NBA 2014 Playoffs Round 1 Saturday Recap and Results

Source: http://bit.ly/1qEEXCO

It was a  big weekend in the NBA, with the first round of the 2014 playoffs commencing on the Saturday (April 19th). With 8 teams from each conference ready to match up against each other to win the 2014 NBA championship. 

Here are the teams (ranked by seed) that have made it to the playoffs 

Eastern Conference

1. Indiana Pacers
2. Miami Heat
3. Toronto Raptors
4. Chicago Bulls
5. Washington Wizards
6. Brooklyn Nets
7. Charlotte Bobcats
8. Atlanta Hawks

Western Conference

1. San Antonio Spurs
2. Oklahoma City Thunder
3. Los Angeles Clippers
4. Houston Rockets
5. Portland Trailblazers
6. Golden State Warriors
7. Memphis Grizzlies
8. Dallas Mavericks

Source: http://bit.ly/1hMVWts

Saturday Night Games - April 19th 2014 (19/4/14)

Brooklyn Nets (94) vs Toronto Raptors (87)

The Toronto Raptors host the Brooklyn Nets at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto. The Nets showed early dominance against the Raptors with consistent field goal shooting from Joe Johnson (24pts) and Deron Williams (24 pts), reinforced with Paul Pierce's shooting performance in the 4th quarter giving the edge to what had become a close contest throughout the 3rd and 4th quarters. The Brooklyn Nets take the win over the Toronto Raptors with with a score of 94-87. The nets now lead the best out of 7 series 1-0 against the Raptors.

Golden State Warriors (109) vs Los Angeles Clippers (105)

Both teams picking up early fouls led to a shaky start to the round 1 game between the GS Warriors and the LA Clippers, with Blake Griffin and Andre Iguodala landing into some trouble with fouls, resulting in both players being fouled out. Griffin, the Clippers star had only 19 minutes on court, whilst Iguodala only 20 minutes. With a poor start by the Warriors, having gone 0-8 in the first, they managed to close up the gap as the scores were tied at 52 points by half time. The Golden State Warriors managed to sneak the win over the Los Angeles Clippers with a score of 109-105.

Atlanta Hawks (101) vs Indiana Pacers (93)

The number 8 east seed, Atlanta Hawks are matched up against the number 1, Indiana Pacers in the eastern conference playoffs. The Pacers, struggled to reflect their dominance that they had in their season against the Hawks, as the Atlanta point guard Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 28 points, a career high for him in the playoffs. Paul Millsap also sparked up the fire for his team by scoring two 3 pointers while getting to the free throw line on multiple occasions, he finished with 25 points. The Pacers managed to keep the score close together with a steady and controlled start, however with only scoring 16 points in the 3rd, they unfortunately could not close the gap, even with an impressive 4th quarter performance. Final score, 101 - 93 with Atlanta Hawks winning and now leading the series 1-0

Oklahoma City Thunder (100) vs Memphis Grizzlies(86)

The OKC Thunder met the Memphis Grizzlies for round 1 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma, as the Thunder started of powerful with an 8-0 scoring run after the tip off, resulting in some extremely poor shooting performance by the Grizzlies, making only 5 of 29 in the first quarter. The Thunder continued to increase their lead by half time with a huge 22 point advantage due to their consistent defense, on the other hand,  the Grizzlies managed to upped the ante after half time with a 17-4 run to start of the 3rd quarter as they slowly attempted to close the deficit between the scores, however it was not sufficient enough as the Thunder maintained composure throughout the 4th to take the win over the Grizzlies with a score of 100-86.