NBA playoffs on Apr. 13: Two sleepers in East, no surprise in West

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The 2019 NBA playoffs began on Saturday and brought two shocking sleepers: The Brooklyn Nets claimed a victory against the Philadelphia 76ers 111-102 at the Wells Fargo Center; the Orlando Magic defeated the Toronto Raptors 104-101 at the Scotiabank Arena thanks to a game-winning three-pointer by D.J. Augustin.

Nets vs. 76ers: Teamwork beats physical talents

Players of the Brooklyn Nets celebrate after they win against the Philadelphia 76ers 111-102 at the Wells Fargo Center, April 13. /VCG Photo

Brooklyn had six players drop double-figure points. Three came from starting-lineup: D'Angelo Russell (26 points), Joe Harris (13 points), DeMarre Carroll (11 points) and three were from the bench: Caris LeVeert (23 points), Spencer Dinwiddie (18 points), Ed Davis (12 points+16 rebounds).

Philadelphia only had three with over 10 points. Jimmy Butler scored the court's most 36 points. Joel Embiid put down a double-double of 22 points and 15 rebounds. The team's "nuclear weapon" Boban Marjanovic contributed 13 points off the bench.

Joel Embiid #21 of the 76ers posts up in the game against the Nets, April 13. /VCG Photo

The 76ers cannot win when they only made three shots from the 3-pt line, not to mention their opponent buried 11 there. Embiid, who has been suffering from knee injury recently, chose to play without wearing protection but he was still affected by the injury, thus did not perform well on the court.

During the game, Embiid and Amir Johnson were caught checking cellphone by the camera, which was forbidden by the NBA. Embiid explained that they were checking the condition of Johnson's daughter who was ill.

Ben Simmons #25 of the 76ers shoots in the game against the Nets, April 13. /VCG Photo

Philadelphia played so bad that the home fans booed them for quite a while in the game. Embiid said that he understood why fans did that but also admitted booing had impact on players. By contrast, Simmons' response was not that nice: "If you are a Sixers fan and you're going to boo, stay on that side."

The Nets should be proud of their victory because it brought them home court advantage in this series. However, they should also realize that Butler and Embiid together earned 33 free throws, a wakening call to the team's defense.

Magic vs. Raptors, 'We the North' do not like Game 1

Players of the Toronto Raptors seem disappointed after they lose to the Orlando Magic 104-101 at the Scotiabank Arena, April 13. /VCG Photo

Augustin put down Orlando's most 25 points while Evan Fournier got 16. Jonathan Isaac and Nikola Vucevic both had 11 points. Aaron Gordon, Terrence Ross and Michael Carter-Williams each contributed 10 points.

Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points for Toronto. Pascal Siakam got 24 points and nine rebounds. Both Danny Green and Marc Gasol had 13 points. Fred VanVleet contributed 14 points from the bench. Kyle Lowry, the team's starting point guard, got zero points.

Kyle Lowry of the Raptors in the game against the Magic, April 13 /VCG Photo

The Raptors have so far played 16 playoff openers and lost 14 of them. Their All-Star orchestrator Lowry missed all his seven shots, including six three-pointers in the 34 minutes he played. As a short-guard who focused more on efficiency than production, such performance was totally unacceptable.

Kawhi Leonard is still the best player of the Raptors. Though the Magic prepared special defense on him, Leonard still sank 10 of his 18 shots, including three three-pointers. In fact, Toronto's offense was going better than any time when he took over. Perhaps head coach Nick Nurse should consider giving more positions to the 2014 FMVP.

Players of the Magic celebrate the game-winning three-pointer made by D.J. Augustin #14 in the game against the Raptors, April 13. /VCG Photo

Though this was just one win in the series, it could help Orlando realize that their opponent were not undefeatable. After all, the Raptors have been a monster in the regular season but barely showed their dominance in the playoffs for at least four years.

Clippers vs. Warriors, defending champion does not do surprise

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors celebrates in the game they win against the Los Angeles Clippers 121-104 at the Oracle Arena, April 13. /VCG Photo

Stephen Curry exploded to help the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 121-104 at the Oracle Arena by shooting down 38 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Thanks to the eight three-pointers he made, Curry buried in total 386 shots from the 3-pt line in the playoffs, surpassing Ray Allen's 385 to lead on the playoff three-ball making list.

Kevin Durant got 23 points and it only took him 16 shots to do so. KD reached 3,679 with his playoff points, surpassing Dirk Nowitzki (3,663) to rank No.15 in history. Bad news was that in the fourth quarter, Durant feuded with Patrick Beverley in the fourth quarter and got ejected (so was Beverley).

Kevin Durant #35 of the Warriors feuds with Patrick Beverley of the Clippers in the game, April 13. /VCG Photo

GSW need to work on how to help DeMarcus Cousins adapt himself to the playoffs. Boogie only played 21 minutes, had nine points, nine rebounds and four assists but was fouled out.

The Clippers saw their biggest advantage on the bench: Montrezi Harell and Lou Williams to gather scored 51 points while all bench players of Golden State had in total 22 points. Nonetheless, the Clippers starting five must work harder because all five of them dropped only 39 points, only one more than Curry himself.

Spurs vs. Nuggets, Denver pay their price for being young

Jamal Murry of the Denver Nuggets seems disappointed after the game they lose to the San Antonio Spurs 101-96 at the Pepesi Center, April 13. /VCG Photo

The San Antonio Spurs took down the Denver Nuggets 101-96 in an uncomfortable game for both sides at the Pepsi Center. Denver's Gary Harris scored 20 points and that was the highest on the court. Nikola Jokic in his playoff debut dropped a triple-double of 10 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists. San Antonio's twin stars, LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan did not shoot well, scoring respectively 18 and 15 points.

The Nuggets struggled with their shooting (42.05 percent) in most of the time, especially in three-pointers (21.43 percent). Though they managed to have eight steals, thanks to the quick back court defense of the Spurs, Denver got zero fast break points. Nonetheless, the young squad still learnt something: having their small guards play hand-off with Jokic via screen worked on San Antonio's defense and that how they caught up from behind in the fourth quarter.

Gregg Popovich, head coach of the Spurs gives instructions in the game against the Nuggets, April 13. /VCG Photo

However, there's one thing the Nuggets should remember: when they were tailing by only one point (96-97) in the last minute, Jamal Murray first missed a perimeter shot and then committed a turnover before the Spurs sealed the victory with four free throws. So the next time when game's on the line, perhaps they should focus on how to give the ball to Jokic.

San Antonio did well enough in defense in Saturday's game. All they need in the future is that Aldridge and DeRozan can find their shooting back. And by the way, congratulations to Gregg Popovich for having the most 1,413 coaching wins (regular season+playoffs) by himself in NBA history.