Lakers, Knicks, Nuggets and Cavaliers started the NBA playoffs with smiles

Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggetsy Cleveland Cavaliers They began their playoff series with home wins against Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptorsrespectively.

LeBron James led the Los Angeles Lakers to victory

Luke Kennard scored 27 points, the highest number of his playoff career; LeBron James he added 19 points and 13 assists; and The Lakers achieved a 107-98 victory over the Rockets in it Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Deandre Ayton contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Lakers, who achieved an impressive victory despite not having their two top scorers, but with an accurate Luke Kennard who converted 5-5 triples.

The Lakers acquired Kennard from Atlanta in early February; The NBA’s most accurate three-point shooter became a key substitute before assuming a starring role over the past two weeks, taking advantage of the absence of the Lakers’ starting pair of point guards. Kennard was 9 of 13 from the field.

JJ Redick’s team took the lead definitively with its first basket of the second half, and extended its lead to 16 points in the fourth quarter. Kennard scored 16 points after the break, while James began his 19th postseason in the NBA with an inspired first quarter of 8 assists, followed by several baskets of pure effort and power in the final stretch of the game.

The Lakers also received a boost from veteran Marcus Smart, who scored 15 points, with 4 three-pointers, and 8 assists in his playoff debut with the purple and gold team. Smart had said before the series that success would depend on willpower, and the Lakers clearly showed they had more of it, at least from the start.

New York Knicks, at a firm pace led by Jalen Brunson

New York Knicks beat Atlanta Hawks 113-102 at Madison Square Garden in its debut in the NBA playoff series thanks to the very good performance of Jalen Brunson, who contributed 28 points.

Brunson recorded 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 1 steal, driven especially by a first quarter in which he scored 19 points.

Karl-Anthony Townsthe Knicks’ other All-Star, didn’t score until well into the second quarter. Although the Dominican had a hard time getting into the game, he finished at a high level with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal.

Behind Brunson and Towns, OG Anunoby was the team’s third leading scorer with 19 points, in addition to grabbing 8 rebounds. Mikal Bridges contributed 11 points and Josh Hart was the only player to have a double-double, with 11 points and 14 rebounds.

For the Hawks, CJ McCollum contributed 26 points, Jalen Johnson added another 23 and Onyeka Okongwu, with 19, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, 17, also recorded double figures.

Led by Brunson and Towns, the Knicks got off to a good start on their path in search of a ring that has eluded them since 1973, more than 50 years ago. The New York team has also not reached the NBA Finals since 1999 after last season they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals by the Indiana Pacers.

This season, New York already had success in the NBA Cup in December, and in the regular season it achieved a creditable third place in the East – only behind the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics – with a record of 53-29, the best since 2013.

Atlanta, directly qualified for the playoffs thanks to its sixth position in the East and driven by a 20-6 streak in the last stretch of the regular season, left this series with the best number of wins in the regular phase in the last ten years.

Nikola Jokic, almighty in Denver Nuggets

Denver Nuggets beat Minnesota Timberwolves 116-105 and achieved the first victory of the West’s first round series.

The Nuggets dominated the second and third quarters, in which they added 22 points more than their rival, to compensate for a bad start to the game in which they lost by 12 points.

Nikola Jokic had a triple-double in the first game of the playoffs with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assistswhile Jamal Murray was the game’s top scorer with 30 points.

However, the Canadian point guard was quite unsuccessful in shooting (7 of 22, with 0 of 8 in triples), although he scored on the 16 occasions in which he went to the free throw line.

For the Timberwolves, scoring was more spread out, with six players in double figures, but Anthony Edwards (22 points) and Julius Randle (16) combined for 14 of 35 shooting.

The afternoon stood out for the poor success of both teams from the perimeter. The locals were 10 of 36 on three-pointers and the Timberwolves made 11 of the 34 shots they attempted from the arc.

The main difference was in the free throws. The Nuggets traveled to that line 33 times, while Minnesota had 19 opportunities.

Nuggets and Timberwolves will meet again this Monday in the second game of the series, again in Denver.

Cleveland Cavaliers opened the playoffs with a victory

Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Toronto Raptors 126-113 with 32 points from Donovan Mitchellin the game that marked the beginning of the NBA playoffs.

James Harden had 22 points and 10 assists for the Cavaliers. ‘La Barba’, traded mid-season from the Clippers, played in the playoffs in his 17 seasons in the NBA, although he is still chasing a first ring.

Max Strus contributed another 24 points. Between the three of them, they accounted for 78 of Cleveland’s 126 points.

For the Raptors, RJ Barrett finished with 24 points, Scottie Barnes with 21 and Brandon Ingram with 17, the same as Jamal Shead.

Both teams posted high percentages of success: the Cavaliers shot 55% from the field and 50% from the perimeter, against 52.1% and 48.1% for Toronto.

Cavaliers and Raptors will meet again this Monday in the second game of the series, again in Cleveland.