The Golden State Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers get almost stress-free home wins. In Memphis and Dallas, the teams are under pressure. The Mavericks are hoping for a quick comeback.
Home wins for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Golden State Warriors, home defeats for the Dallas Mavericks and the Memphis Grizzlies – the NBA playoffs began on Saturday. In the best-of-seven mode, the teams that have four wins first advance to the next round. An overview of the games on the first day.
NBA-Play-offs: Western Conference
Dallas Mavericks-Utah Jazz 93-99 (Jazz lead 1-0)
Without their injured star Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks lost the first playoff game of the NBA season to the Utah Jazz. The team led by national basketball player Maxi Kleber conceded a 93:99 in front of their own fans.
Kleber’s comeback after his break due to ankle problems was defensively good and offensively expandable. Doncic could be back in the second game on Monday.
The Mavericks can’t afford a second defeat at home if they want to move into the second round of the playoffs for the first time since the championship with Dirk Nowitzki in 2011.
Golden State Warriors-Denver Nuggets 123-107 (Warriors lead 1-0)
Won the opener and a comeback without much pressure for Steph Curry: The start of the series against the Denver Nuggets went almost perfectly for the Golden State Warriors.
The superstar returned to action for the first time since March 16 at 123:107 after recovering from a foot injury. As an off-bench player, he recorded 16 points, three rebounds and four assists in just over 21 minutes on the field.
The Warriors had the game under control in the second half and benefited from the strong performance of Jordan Poole, who had 30 points. The nuggets around Nikola Jokic had no answer to the hosts’ many attacking options.
NBA-Play-offs: Eastern Conference
Memphis Grizzlies – Minnesota Timberwolves 117:130 (Timberwolves lead 1:0)
Like the Jazz, the Timberwolves picked up an important away win to start their streak against the Grizzlies.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Edwards in particular had strong performances – Towns had 29 points and 13 rebounds, Edwards was the best scorer of the game with 36 points. Apart from two short periods in the second quarter, the guests were not behind and put the Grizzlies under pressure before the second game on Tuesday.
The team from Memphis around its star Ja Morant is theoretically the clear favorite against the Timberwolves, who only secured a playoff ticket in the play-in against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Philadelphia 76ers-Toronto Raptors 131-111 (76ers lead 1-0)
4-0, 5-4 – those were the only two scores the 76ers were behind against the Toronto Raptors at the start of the series.
After that, the team around the two stars Joel Embiid and Kyrie Irving took control. Embiid had a good 19 points and 15 rebounds as a center, but man of the game was Tyrese Maxey with 38 points for the 76ers. Harden had 22 points, Tobias Harris had 26 points.
The Raptors didn’t get defended against the many attacking options. Isaac Bonga also made an appearance for Toronto for the first time in more than two months, but was unable to do much in less than three minutes, converting just two free throws.
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