The first round of the NBA playoffs came to its conclusion Saturday after Denver narrowly beat out San Antonio in game 7. The Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors and the Philadelphia 76ers made it so the conference semis in the East, while the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets represent the West. But who were the best players in the first round?
Guard: Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers)
No doubt about who was the best point guard in the first round. Damian Lillard absolutely dominated in the first round, averaging 33 points and 6 assists to go along with 2.4 steals per game on 46% shooting from the floor and 48% from deep. He sent the Thunder home in 5 games, with the last one being an absolute masterpiece.
Lillard dropped 50 points and 6 assists and sunk a 37-foot buzzer beater over Paul George for his 10th triple of the night and to end the series. Now they face off against the Denver Nuggets in the second round. On paper a more difficult matchup, as the Nuggets ended in the 2nd seed.
Guard: James Harden (Houston Rockets)
The reigning MVP gets the nod over Lou Williams and C.J. McCollum, as they both weren’t able to put together a strong performance in their closeout games. Harden averaged almost 28 points and 8 assists with more than 2 steals a game. His shooting numbers weren’t great, shooting barely 37% from the field and 35% from 3-point land.
Yet, Harden doesn’t just get the nod based purely on his numbers. Sending the Utah Jazz home in 5 games is very impressive, as Utah has been known to be a strong and rugged defensive team with a tough crowd in Salt Lake City. The Rockets now get a chance to redeem themselves against the Golden State Warriors, the team that beat them in 7 games last year on route to their 3rd championship in 4 years.
Forward: Kawhi Leonard (Toronto Raptors)
No worries, we didn’t leave out Kevin Durant. Kawhi has been an incredible force for the Toronto Raptors and that while being sick in the first round. Leonard averaged just short of 28 points per game on flat out ridiculous shooting. He connected on 56% of his field goals and 54% of his 3-pointers, while leading all scorers in 4 out of 5 games.
The Raptors won in 5 games after dropping the first one. If the Raptors can keep up their impressive play and Kawhi re-signs with the team in the summer, they will certainly have won the trade they made for Leonard this summer. In the meantime, the Raptors look like the team to beat in the East. Can they make it to the NBA finals?
Forward: Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors)
He’s Kevin Durant, you know who he is. KD averaged 35 points in the first round and did so while shooting 57% from the floor and 40% from deep. He closed out the series against the Clippers in L.A. with an incredible 50-point effort, just a few days after Dame’s. The back-to-back finals MVP let Patrick Beverley get in his head for the first 2 games, but absolutely dominated the following games.
The Warriors now go up against the Rockets as they look to three-peat and cement their place as a dynasty. They won in 7 games against the Rockets and will look to get it over with a bit faster this year, as they already played 6 games against the Clippers, something no one expected.
Center: Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers)
Close call between Embiid and Nikola Jokic, but the big man from Cameroon gets the nod over his Serbian counterpart. The 76ers won more comfortably, taking just 5 games as opposed to the Nuggets’ 7-game thriller. Embiid was a force in their series against the Nets, putting up 24.8 points and 13.5 rebounds. He also averaged 2.8 blocks.
His shooting was a bit of a disappointment, going just over 50% while only connecting on 23% of his triples. Embiid will need to pull away from that 3-point line and be more of a force inside if the 76ers want to beat the Toronto Raptors. Many people believe that it is the weakness of Embiid to shoot to many threes.
For the sake of consistency, I picked the same format as the All-NBA teams: 2 guards, 2 forwards and 1 center. Do you agree with my picks for the best team of the first round?
Courtside 