The bubble has produced lots of weird results, and today just added to that list. Both number one seeds lost their opening games.

The Portland Trail Blazers started the first quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers strong, with Damian Lillard going strong with 15 points and Jusuf Nurkic adding in 10 of his own. By the time the Lakers took a timeout with 2:11 remaining, the Blazers had a 16 point lead. That first quarter finished with a 36-25 advantage for the eighth seed.

The Lakers roared back in the second quarter, though, using a 13-1 run to cut the lead to 40-38 and force a Blazers timeout with 8:27 left on the clock. The Blazers went on a seven-minute field goal drought but managed to get to the line consistently to preserve their lead. The Lakers finally took their first lead at 50-49, as the Blazers went completely cold form the field making zero field goals over a 12-minute period.

The Blazers managed to finally make a couple of toward the end of the first half, which ended 57-56 in their advantage. The big story of the first half were the refs, who sent both teams to the line for a total of 47 shots.

LeBron James almost had a triple-double in the first half, with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 10 assists. Anthony Davis had 21 points and 7 rebounds.

Damian Lillard had 23 points and looked focused solely on scoring the basket, and Jusuf Nurkic had a double-double at the half with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

The two teams continued to trade baskets in the third quarter, while the Blazers were able to hold onto a 78-75 lead even as Lillard struggled from the field. This set the table for a tense fourth quarter.

The Blazers continued to struggled from the offensive end in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers took advantage to grab an 84-78 lead with 8:02 left – their biggest of the game as of that point.

Lillard (34 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST) found his shooting touch again late in the game, as he and Carmelo Anthony (11 PTS, 10 REB) pushed the Blazers to a lead thanks to timely threes late in the game. The Lakers weren’t able to answer, and the game ended with a 100-93 Blazers victory. CJ McCollum (21 PTS, 5 REB) also provided important scoring while playing with a fracture in his back.

LeBron James (23 PTS, 17 REB, 16 AST) will be ruing his team’s inability to make baskets late in the game.

Magic shock Bucks in Game 1

A 122-110 victory for the Orlando Magic, who now have a 1-0 series lead over the East-leading Milwaukee Bucks, was another surprising result. It wasn’t some crazy come-from-behind victory, either. Orlando led almost the entire game.

In fact, the Bucks only held a lead for roughly three-and-a-half minutes from their opening bucket. Orlando took the lead for good with 8:13 left in the first quarter.

The Magic were propped up by a monster game from Nikola Vujevic (35 PTS, 14 REB, 4 AST), who was on fire from down town and shot 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. It was a great team game, too, and his teammates produced well:

  • Gary Clark (15 PTS, 6 REB)
  • Markelle Fultz (15 PTS, 6 AST)
  • James Enis III (15 PTS, 8 REB)
  • Terence Ross (18 PTS, 6 REB)

The Bucks, who spent the entire pre-Covid 19 season destroying all comers, struggled in the bubble and finished with a 3-5 record. They were 53-12 when the season was frozen in March and finished 56-17.

A single game isn’t enough to cause widespread panic, but the Bucks are going to need to figure out a solution. They’re not going to want to have to hope that Giannis Antetokounmpo (31 PTS, 17 REB, 7 AST) can hit another level and just carry his teammates, because that’s not how you get to and win the NBA Finals. They’ll also have to fix their atrocious free throw percentage. They went 18-28 (64.3%) from the line compared to the Magic who shot 18-19 (94.7%)

The Magic will also probably come down to earth with their shooting in Game 2, but they’ve certainly got the momentum going in.

Other games:

It was a case of no Russell Westbrook, no problem for the Houston Rockets, who took a dominant 123-108 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were led, unsurprisingly, by James Harden (37 PTS, 11 REB, 3 AST). Eric Gordon (21 PTS, 3 REB, 4 AST) and Jeff Green (22 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST) also did their part.

The Miami Heat beat their rival Indiana Pacers 113-101 to take a 1-0 series lead. Jimmy Butler (28 PTS, 3 REB, 4 AST) led the way for the Heat, who also got a good game from Goran Dragic (24 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST) and Bam Adebayo (17 PTS, 10 REB, 6 AST).