NBA Playoffs opening weekend: sights, sounds, and analysis

Such great basketball the past two days.

Of course, my Cleveland Cavaliers took game 1 of the series at home against the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls were never really in it, but made it somewhat competitive towards the end. LeBron "MVP" James put a stop to that though and put the game away from some clutch baskets down the stretch.

The best part about Cavs/Bulls game 1 in my opinion is that it wasn't ALL LeBron. He had a great game, but he had a lot of help, namely from Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, Anderson Varejao, and SHAQ! Mo and Antawn each put up around 15-20 points and added great assist and rebounding numbers respectively on excellent shooting percentage. Shaq came back from injury looking better than ever, creating a lot of problems for Chicago centers Joakim Noah and Brad Miller. And Noah just couldn't "out-Varejao" Anderson Varejao, as the Wild Thing grabbed double digit rebounds off the bench.

Cavs/Bulls game 2 is tonight at 8pm in Cleveland, TNT.

Around the NBA
The Nuggets, Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Hawks, Magic, Blazers, and Mavericks all took game 1 of their series. All of these teams have homecourt advantage except for the Blazers. I did not see them winning that game 1 at all, especially without their star player Brandon Roy. Everyone else stepped up, especially former Cavalier PG Andre Miller, tying his career high playoff point total in Phoenix last night.

Stephen Jackson, SF for the Charlotte Bobcats, suffered a hyper-extended knee after getting inadvertently hit by teammate Gerald Wallace in last night's Bobcats/Magic game 1. He returned for the 2nd half and attacked the rim hard, so the injury may not be too serious, but it may stiffen up on him with inactivity so we'll see how it effects him for game 2. For Charlotte to have any chance of beating Orlando, they need Captain Jack.

Utah Jazz forward Mehmet Okur tore his achilles tendon during game 1 of the Jazz/Nuggets series and will be out for 3-6 months, obviously now out for the rest of the playoffs. VERY disappointing for Utah, and for me because he's one of my favorite players. The Money Man will come back strong next year.

Kevin Garnett was suspended by the League for game 2 of the Miami/Boston series for throwing an elbow at Miami forward Quentin Richardson's head during a fight in game 1. Here's a video segment from the TNT crew showing both the Garnett-Richardson fight and the Okur injury:



And finally, here's a picture of Los Angeles Laker's forward Ron Artest and his new hair-do and facial hair. He looks disgusting...