San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzlies Sat. April 23, 2011 7:30 p.m. EST

Coming into their first-round playoff series against the eighth seeded Memphis Grizzlies, the number one seeded San Antonio Spurs were favored to be the team to advance and for good reason as they were arguably the best team in the league throughout the NBA regular season. Despite the fact that the Spurs were as dominant as they were throughout the first 82 games, Tim Duncan and company have really started to struggle in the past month or so and have let the Grizzlies steal one win in San Antonio. Continue Reading…

Los Angeles Lakers at New Orleans Hornets Fri. April 22, 2011 9:30 p.m. EST

After the devastating loss to the New Orleans Hornets in Game 1, the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers had a lot of problems that they had to address in order to compete with Chris Paul and company moving forward. With the Hornets’ All-Star point guard dominating the defending champs in the Game 1 with 33 points and 14 assists, the key for the Lakers success would be containing CP3 in Game 2. Continue Reading…

Boston Celtics at New York Knicks Fri. April 22, 2011 7 p.m. EST

Ever since the NBA trade deadline, the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics just haven’t been the same team as the trade of Kendrick Perkins turned out to be one of the worst moves that GM Danny Ainge could have made. Even though Ainge was only thinking about the future, the move just tore the team apart as players like All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo and perennial All-Star forward Kevin Garnett were devastated. Continue Reading…

Miami Heat at Philadelphia 76ers Thurs. April 21, 2011 8 p.m. EST

The Miami Heat came into the 2011 NBA playoffs with extremely high expectations as it was basically an NBA title or bust. With that being the case, this team was under a lot of pressure coming into their first-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers and really struggled out of the gate against a motivated squad led by head coach Doug Collins. Continue Reading…

The two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers have gotten their campaign for a third straight underway against the New Orleans Hornets in the first round of the playoffs. Even though the Lakers haven’t exactly started off on the right foot as they lost Game 1 in somewhat convincing fashion, the defending champs did get some good news this week as they learned that forward Lamar Odom has won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award. Continue Reading…

New Orleans Hornets at Los Angeles Lakers Weds. April 20, 2011 10:30 p.m. EST

One of the biggest upsets of the opening games of the first round of the NBA playoffs was the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers falling to the New Orleans Hornets at Staples Center. Not only did the Hornets beat the defending champs when no one gave them much of a chance to compete with Kobe Bryant and company, but they did it in convincing fashion. Continue Reading…

Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs Weds. April 20, 2011 8:30 p.m. EST

The biggest shock in the first round of the NBA playoffs so far has been the eighth seeded Memphis Grizzlies going into Texas and upsetting the number one seeded San Antonio Spurs. Even though many people anticipated the Grizzlies being one of the toughest teams to beat in the Western Conference playoffs, no one thought they would be able to beat the Spurs in Game 1 the way they did. Continue Reading…

Game 2: Atlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic Tues. April 19, 2011 7:30 p.m. EST

The Orlando Magic came into this series with the division rival Atlanta Hawks as the favorites to advance to the second round and continue their run at the NBA title. Despite the fact that Dwight Howard had the game of his life with 46 points and 19 rebounds, the Magic fell the Hawks and showed that they might not be good enough to get the best of their division rivals this time around. Continue Reading…

Portland Trail Blazers at Dallas Mavericks Tues. April 19, 2011 9:30 p.m. EST

Coming into this first-round matchup, the consensus around the league was that the Dallas Mavericks would almost certainly struggle against a talented young Portland Trail Blazers squad. Even though that did turn out to be the case in Game 1, the Mavs were able to hold off LaMarcus Aldridge and company and get the win to take the 1-0 lead in the series. Continue Reading…

The Oklahoma City Thunder came into this NBA regular season with high hopes of being able to capitalize on their successful season last year and even though some people thought last season was nothing more than a fluke, superstar forward Kevin Durant went on to win his second consecutive scoring title and lead his team back into the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Western Conference. Continue Reading…