Playoff basketball returned to Sacramento for the first time in 17 years with a vengeance. The Kings held off the Golden State Warriors, 126-123, in Game 1 of a series that needs to be converted into a Best of 777 series immediately – and even that might be too short. We knew Warriors-Kings would be the crescendo of a jam-packed first day of the NBA Playoffs, but holy moly did it exceed expectations.
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Elsewhere, the Knicks win a thriller in Cleveland thanks to Jalen Brunson and some timely offensive rebounding, while two other East favorites had far easier times against meeker opposition.
Let’s review Day 1 of the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
Kings 126, Warriors 123 (Sacramento leads series, 1-0)
How the Kings won: Can we review the last minute of that game? We pick things up with the Kings up three, 58.7 seconds left. Here’s what happened – at least I think it’s what happened, because it’s all a blur.
Stephen Curry rubs off a textbook super-high Draymond Green screen to score a layup. One-point game, 48 seconds left.
De’Aaron Fox, he of the 38-point night, goes quickly against Andrew Wiggins to get the 2-for-1, but misses the stepback jumper.
Domantas Sabonis tips the rebound out, and Fox gets a similar shot against Gary Payton II, but misses badly.
Draymond Green tumbles Sabonis to the floor on the rebound, then gets up very slooowwllly, Dennis Rodman-on-Karl-Malone style, while the Warriors race down the floor in a 4-on-4 situation.
Curry hits Klay Thompson on a short roll, and the trigger-happy shooting guard … passes to an open Andrew Wiggins in the corner for 3? What a read!
Wiggins is wide open. Like, wiiiide open. Like, hushed-crowd-triggering-painful-memories wide open. And he misses!
Fox eventually gets the ball and chucks it down the court to Monk instead of taking the foul, but luckily Green was just a tad late getting back.
Monk hits two free throws with 2.9 seconds left.
The Kings leave Curry – STEPH CURRY – open for a clean inbounds and a game-tying 3-point attempt that somehow misses.
If you’re a Kings fan and you weren’t breathing into a paper bag nonstop for 10 minutes after all that, I commend you.
Only words… #PLAYOFFMODE 2.9 left in Game 1.
Warriors ball. GET TO ABC. pic.twitter.com/W8FxNkU44V — NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2023
#PLAYOFFMODE IS BACK IN SAC! KINGS WIN A THRILLING GAME 1 🔥 pic.twitter.com/t6aXPAAyzv — NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2023
OK, but why did the Kings win? Because the starting backcourt of the No. 2 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament’s South regional would not let them lose. De’Aaron Fox was the headliner, dropping 38 points, including 29 in the second half and 15 in the fourth quarter. The moment was not too big for the sixth-year pro playing in the first playoff game of his career. Whenever the Kings needed a bucket late, Fox delivered. (That sentence has been copied-and-pasted many times this season).
Malik Monk chipped in with 32 points off the bench, including 14-of-14 from the free-throw line. Bobby Jackson, the former ace Kings Sixth Man who was in attendance, would be proud. Together, the two former Kentucky guards breathed new life into a game the Warriors seemingly had under control midway through the third quarter.
De’Aaron Fox (38 PTS) and Malik Monk (32 PTS) are the 2nd pair of teammates in NBA history to each go for 30+ in their Playoff debut. The first pair was Hornets duo Alonzo Mourning (30 PTS) and Kendall Gill (30 PTS) on April 29, 1993. pic.twitter.com/gwKo1OhLUT — NBA History (@NBAHistory) April 16, 2023
The Warriors may have an alternate interpretation.
The Kings outscored the Warriors 23-11 during Curry’s 4:58 on the bench bridging the third and fourth quarters — Marcus Thompson II (@ThompsonScribe) April 16, 2023
Speaking of Steph: He hit so many Vintage Steph shots that you assumed the Warriors would somehow find a way to pull this game out. I gasped at this 3.
Wardell Stephen Curry II
TOUGH. pic.twitter.com/E6HwpLt6Uu — Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 16, 2023
He ended up with 30 points. Kevon Looney was excellent in leading the effort to stifle Domantas Sabonis, who finished 5-of-17 from the field. Draymond Green was Draymond Green. Klay Thompson hit some big shots. Gary Payton II filled in a lot of gaps off the bench. Wiggins, playing his first game since mid-February after a long absence due to personal reasons, looked like he never left, scoring 17 points in 28 minutes along with excellent defense and rebounding. Alas, if only he had three more points.
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What’s next: A Game 2 Monday at 10 p.m. ET – somehow less than 48 hours from the final buzzer of Game 1. Long live this series.
Knicks 101, Cavaliers 97 (Knicks lead series, 1-0)
Why the Knicks won: Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson. All season, the Knicks’ one-two punch has owned the two ends of NBA games. Randle tends to dominate early – his 703 first-quarter points trailed only Dallas’ Luka Doncic this season – while Brunson is the player shutting the door in crunch time. That’s exactly how Game 1 played out. Randle, in his first game back after spraining his ankle on March 29, scored 16 first-half points to lead New York to a five-point halftime advantage. Then, Brunson, quiet in the first half, came alive in the final two quarters, scoring 21 of his 27 points after halftime. This textbook wrong-footed lefty layup gave New York a four-point advantage with 35 seconds left, one the Knicks wouldn’t relinquish.
JALEN BRUNSON.
CLUTCH. He puts the Knicks up 4 with 35.4 left in Game 1 on ESPN!#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/4yUGJ2yCnn — NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2023
The best player on the floor: Even in defeat, it was still Donovan Mitchell. You had a feeling the Cavaliers’ superstar (and – stop me if you’ve heard this before – 2022 offseason Knicks trade target) would come to play, considering his history of big postseason moments contrasted with the dearth of them from the rest of his team. Mitchell ended up with 38 points and eight assists while nearly willing his team back in the fourth quarter.
MONSTER performance by Donovan Mitchell in his @cavs postseason debut. 38 PTS
8 AST
3 STL They look to even the series Tuesday at 7:30pm/et on TNT. pic.twitter.com/lFSWHs9Nrn — NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2023
I was so sure the Cavaliers would complete the comeback after this hustle play.
Instead, other surprising stuff happened. Namely …
His name is too on the nose: JOSH freakin’ Hart! In his first playoff game (hard to believe given his game, not gonna lie), the former Villanova product did exactly what he always does: stick his nose in places where it doesn’t belong to help his team win. Seventeen points and 10 rebounds for the 6’4 guard, none bigger than these three.
HART FOR THREE… Knicks regain the lead! Just over a minute to play on ESPN 🍿 pic.twitter.com/EnlbATkehL — NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2023
If Game 1 is any indication, this series promises to be a dogfight. And Hart certainly has plenty of dog in him.
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Where were the other Cavaliers? The Cavaliers pride themselves on having plenty of dog in them, but the players not named Donovan Mitchell weren’t exactly howling in Game 1. Darius Garland’s numbers were fine (17 points on 13 shots), but he passed up a bunch of looks and committed five turnovers. Evan Mobley was his typical great self on defense, especially in the second half, but couldn’t make a layup to save his life. Jarrett Allen had 14 points and 14 rebounds, but that doesn’t account for all the boards he couldn’t get (more on those later). Isaac Okoro looked rusty in his 23 minutes. Caris LeVert and Ricky Rubio looked the same, but without the excuse of returning from injury. J.B. Bickerstaff had little choice but to turn to Cedi Osman to close the game, and while Osman certainly was up for the moment, his over-eager defense is exactly what you don’t want against Brunson’s crafty game. Maybe the rest of the Cavaliers will be looser in Game 2.
Can the Cavs rebound? For real, how was a team that plays two elite defensive bigs this bad at cleaning the glass? The Knicks snagged 17 of their 51 misses, including two crucial ones in the final minutes when the Cavaliers needed a board to seals much-needed stops. The first resulted in the Brunson layup you see above. The second enabled Quentin Grimes to seal the game with two free throws. The Knicks are an outstanding offensive rebounding team, but Cleveland should still do much better than that.
What’s next? Game 2 is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. It’s a must-win for the Cavaliers, who don’t want to go back to Madison Square Garden in an 0-2 hole.
Celtics 112, Hawks 99 (Boston leads series, 1-0)
Why the Celtics won: Because their five-out offensive system was well-rested and locked in. Boston spread the floor and pushed hard off misses, stressing a Hawks defense that isn’t exactly stout under more ideal circumstances. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and others took advantage of Big Dig-sized holes in Atlanta’s defense to attack the rim with reckless abandon, all while Clint Capela sat helplessly on the perimeter in fear of Boston’s 3-point shooting.
About that: Boston also made 13-33 from downtown, including 9-16 in the first half, while Atlanta shot just 5-29 on 3s. When the Celtics are making shots like that and their opponent isn’t, there’s not much anyone can do.
Atlanta made a run in the second half to cut a 30-point Boston halftime lead to 12, aided by a textbook Celtics letup. But Boston responded with six easy points in a minute to quell the threat. The final score did not reflect the game’s competitiveness.
The best player on the floor: Derrick White, who showed why he remains one of the league’s most underrated players in dropping 24 points on 13 shots, along with seven assists and five rebounds. He ate Trae Young alive on both ends, bugging him at all angles of the pick-and-roll on one end while driving hard at him on the other.
It never gets old seeing Rob lobs 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/4sjGhgTPrf — Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 15, 2023
Last postseason was a rough one for White, who seemed reluctant to shoot from 3 and played passively in other areas because of it. But he regained his confidence under Joe Mazzulla during the regular season, hitting 38 percent of his nearly five attempts per game, allowing the rest of his game to shine. With Marcus Smart often limited due to injury, White’s consistency, versatility and two-way excellence has stitched so many Celtics sequences together this season. The national audience got a chance to see White’s subtly brilliant work up close on Saturday, but Celtics fans have been watching it all year.
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Ice (cold) Trae: Speaking of Trae Young, yikes. You had a feeling it was going to be bad when Young missed his first six shots, including a 35-footer early in the shot clock when he was the very opposite of in rhythm. Young’s final tally: 16 points on 5-18 from the field, along with five turnovers, his usual so-so defense and absence of off-ball movement. This is not an easy matchup for Young; the Celtics have a ton of bodies to throw at him on the ball and do not easily surrender the sort of odd-man advantages that Young tends to create in the pick-and-roll. But he has to be better than he was on Saturday.
What’s next: Game 2 is Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, which gives Quin Snyder an extra day to figure out how to get Young going and/or convince the Celtics to play like they’re already up 30.
76ers 121, Nets 101 (Philadelphia leads series, 1-0)
Why the 76ers won: Because the Nets couldn’t stop them. Brooklyn elected to send instant double-teams at Joel Embiid, a sensible strategy in theory that backfired severely. The 76ers made a playoff franchise-record 21 3s, grabbed nearly 30 percent of their 47 missed shots and easily moved the ball through the Nets’ defensive rotations. Embiid notched 26 points on 15 shots, too, so it’s not like the Nets stopped him, either.
Seven of those 21 3s came off James Harden’s hands, including some vicious vintage stepbacks. Spencer Dinwiddie is still dizzy after this one.
That James Harden stepback 💯 Mid 2Q of Game 1 in Philly on ESPN pic.twitter.com/fDrPzoqcyn — NBA (@NBA) April 15, 2023
The best player on the floor?: It was Joel Embiid. How many players can drop 26 points on 15 shots while seeing as much single coverage as I did sitting on the couch? At least one NBA player was impressed.
He is the MVP. THEY TRAPPING EVERY TIME HE TOUCHES THE BALLLL! 😂😂😂let’s be real y’all — Jabari Smith Jr (@jabarismithjr) April 15, 2023
The Nets sold out to stop the potential 2022-23 MVP, switching his screen-and-rolls with Harden and immediately sending a second defender thereafter, sometimes even before he caught the ball. The Nets’ logic made some sense: use their collective perimeter length to scramble, perhaps force Embiid into turnovers and hope he started forcing shots in frustration. Instead, Embiid accepted the Nets’ traps, manipulated them beautifully to find the open man and got his in the second half when the Nets started dialing back the pressure. One wonders what Jacque Vaughn might do to adjust in Game 2 – beyond lobbying officials for more calls, of course.
A silver lining for Brooklyn … or a foreboding sign for Philadelphia: This is a wild stat!
The Nets had a 65.0 eFG% That’s the highest in a loss in NBA Playoffs history per @Stathead https://t.co/y92wYmRiiF pic.twitter.com/GRaW2wJGuO — Mike Lynch (@SportInfo247) April 15, 2023
The good news for the 76ers is the Nets only scored 101 points. As well as they shot the ball, the Nets committed 19 turnovers, grabbed only five offensive rebounds and made fewer free throws (10) than Embiid all by himself (11). The 76ers’ defensive scheme, which involved Embiid dropping back on pick-and-rolls, is designed to take all that other stuff away.
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At the same time, the Nets’ offense was quite comfortable for most of the game. Mikal Bridges scored 30 points in his Nets playoff debut – though he tailed off in the second half – and the Nets made 13-29 from 3-point range. Philly should have too much firepower to be threatened in this series, but the Celtics, who play a similar style to Brooklyn except much better, likely await in the next round. If the 76ers allow Brooklyn to shoot this well, what will that mean going forward?
What’s next: Game 2 is Monday at 7 p.m. in Philadelphia. We’ll see if the Nets find an answer for Embiid that doesn’t involve allowing his teammates to play 4 on 3 the entire game.
Go deeper: More coverage from The Athletic.
(Top Photo: Loren Elliott/Getty Images)