NBA Western Conference 1st Round Review

WESTERN CONFERENCE MATCHUPS

Well, I believe that not a single soul saw this series going more than 5 games. I mean, I like the Pelicans enough to have had a little faith in them, but I'm surprised that they even got this close even with Devin Booker getting injured. I'd have to say my biggest from this series on the Pelicans has to be the rookies, Jose Alvarado and Herbert Jones. These guys don't make much of an impact on the offensive side of the ball like CJ and BI, but these guys sure do make have the biggest influence on the defensive end of the ball. I was so happy with what these guys brought to the court. They brought grit, determination, and intensity to a team that pretty much knew that they didn't have anything to put up against the regular season win leading Suns. These two, along with the scoring of McCollum and Ingram, helped this team fight to six games when they shouldn't have even made it that far.

In the Suns case, with the Booker injury, this team looked really bad against the Pelicans. They had a not at 100% DBook in Game 6 and got lucky from getting carried by CP3. Chris Paul played really well in this series to say the least, but my biggest surprise from this series for them has to be the statistical leap from the young stud in DeAndre Ayton. He went from averaging 17 points on 63% shooting to averaging 20.5 points on 70% shooting. With Devin being hurt, it was on him to help Chris Paul with the scoring load, and that he did, and with extreme efficiency. Mikal Bridges helped Ayton with some of that defensive load and with this team, its hard to beat the Suns. I'm going to pray for the Mavericks next round.

Well, I just have to say, this has to be my most dislike series of them all. I really didn't enjoy any of the games besides the last one where Bogdanovic missed a pumpfake three at the buzzer. The sad part about this series is that possibly, this may be the last time that we see Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert play together, due to the tensions between the two this season. But enough with the drama, let's talk about the X-Factor for this Mavericks team, which had to be the 4 year guy out of Villanova, PG Jalen Brunson. He went from averaging 16 PPG on 50% shooting throughout the season, to averaging a stout 28 PPG on 48% shooting in the playoffs. This man showed that he could hoop when Luka was going through that slump. I was heavy on Jalen when he entered the draft back in 2018, but he was an older guard, so I didn't think he would be picked that high nor blossom to the guy he is now. He totally blew my expectations out of the water along with the Mavericks' also. He went from being the average role player to a top of the line starter in this league after this series. Luka picked it up over the last few games, but I have to say, without Jalen, this team would have been minced meat.

There was honestly no highlights for this team, no X-Factors. Rudy Gobert played horrible defense throughout this whole series. MIke Conley and Donovan Mitchell shot disgustingly throughout the duration of the series. Mike shot 33% from the field in the playoffs. Atrocious. I mean like I said, this could possibly be the last time that we see Don and Rudy in uniform together. May be the end of an era, but the start to a new one. Ready to see what this Mavs team can do against the almighty, but with not 100% Devin Booker Suns.

Karl-Anthony Towns is truly one of the reasons why the T-Wolves couldn't win at all. One reason is because of the bone-head fouls that he makes alongside, the young Grizzly stud Jaren Jackson Jr.. Both of them struggle with that for sure. Anthony Edwards, in his first playoff series, went absolutely awol. He went from averaging 21 PPG during the regular season to averaging 26 PPG, which I find to be crazy for a guy who's making his playoff debut. Ant's offensive +/- was negative all through the regular season and he got it all the way up to a 3.2 during the playoffs, which tells you the impact he had on this offense. It's sad that they blew 5 and i mean FIVE, separate double digit leads in this series, so it seem like the Grizz had more energy and passion behind the work to make something happens.

For the Grizzlies, the big X-Factor for the reasoning of it going to 6 games has to be the start of the series for Ja Morant. He started off this series playing very badly, but he did end up heating up as the series was coming to an end. Jaren Jackson Jr. had to be another huge factor of this series going to 6. With his bonehead fouls and average play, he just looked like a regular role player and not JJJ. But somehow, they got by with the luck of the Irish, because the T-Wolves couldn't keep 20 point leads. The Grizzlies have a huge test in the red hot Warriors next series.

Lastly, we have the Warriors versus the Nuggets. A series that I thought had the potential to go 7 if MPJ and Jamal Murray were playing, but I knew that Jokic could not do it all by himself. He was a one man show this whole series, with occasional help from Monte Morris and Aaron Gordon. The biggest X-Factor for the Nuggets has to be the turnovers. Jokic averaged almost 5 turnovers a game, Will Barton had two, Monte and Aaron with 1.6. This team shouldn't turn the ball over this much against a team who takes full advantage of the fast break opportunities like the Warriors, so they took those chances and made the Nuggets pay time and time again. Aaron tried to help Jokic along, with a few crazy games from Boogie Cousins, but this Warriors team is sure hard to stop.

Golden State, of course, came through and won the series in 6. Jordan Poole, by far, is the biggest surprise of the playoffs all together for me. I mean, we all knew that he had talent, but man, did he turn up in the first round of the playoffs. He went from averaging 18 points on 44% shooting from the field and 36% from 3 to averaging 21 points on 54% shooting on 48% from long range. Jordan's play was phenomenal and other worldly. Steph coming off the bench those first few games really helped propel them to some wins. Draymond, as usual, played leader and did what he thought was best for the team and he's always right. This Warriors team did struggle offensively a few times in the series due to this new death lineup being in its infant stages, but I'm excited to see what this team can do against the higher seeded Memphis Grizzlies.

All of these series were fairly fun to watch. There were no game 7's which I hated, but overall, it was a great first round otherwise. The second round, I believe, will be a showdown!