NBA playoff dispatches: Suns face early concerns; Nuggets blast Wolves

FOX Sports writers are providing takeaways from games throughout the NBA playoffs. Here are their thoughts from the first Sunday of the postseason.

Clippers 115, Suns 110: Suns facing early depth concerns

Trading for Kevin Durant was a no-brainer for the Phoenix Suns. At this point, it’s hard to put into words just how ridiculously good Durant has become. He’s basically perfected basketball. We saw this in Game 1 on Sunday night, when he torched the LA Clippers with a 27-point, 11-assist, nine-rebound, two-block performance, which also included some smothering defense on Kawhi Leonard and some elite rim protection.

But the problem with midseason trades for stars is that they gut your depth. Usually teams need a couple more transaction cycles to plug in the holes along the margins. The Suns have not had that opportunity yet. And in their 115-110 Game 1 loss to the Clippers, we saw how the Durant deal has left them exposed.

The Suns’ starting lineup with Durant is probably the best in the NBA. Their top-four of Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton is as good as anyone’s, and might be the best we’ve seen since Durant left Golden State. It’s just not clear that there’s anyone else that they can rely on. This isn’t a hot take from the couch either. Just look at how Suns coach Monty Williams distributed his minutes in Game 1.

Durant played 45 minutes. Booker played 43. Paul played 39. Ayton played 33. The team’s fifth starter, Torrey Craig (27 minutes), and Landry Shamet (24) were the only other Suns to receive more than eight minutes of playing time. Josh Okogie, Bismack Biyombo, Ish Wainright, Jock Londale and Terrence Ross also all played between four and seven minutes. In other words: Even Williams was unsure of who he could rely on in this sort of tight, playoff environment.

And, honestly, who can blame him? The Clippers ran laps around the Suns anytime one of those reserves stepped foot on the floor. Just look at the plus/minus numbers: -12 for Wainright, -10 for Okogie, -11 for Biyombo, -8 for Landale, -14 for Shamet, -1 for Ross.

There are moves Williams can make. Maybe he starts staggering his stars, making sure two of his top four are on the court at all times. But the fact that he already has to lean this heavily on his top guys is something that should have Suns fans concerned. Stars win games in the NBA playoffs. But they also need help.

— Yaron Weitzman

Lakers 128, Grizzlies 112: Team effort helps Lakers seize early momentum

Cameras caught Austin Reaves flashing a huge smile as he walked through the tunnel at FedExForum.

He’s earning just $1.56 million this season, the lowest-paid Los Angeles Laker who got playing time in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

Still, he had one of the biggest impacts in the team’s 128-112 win.

Reaves finished with 23 points, scoring 14 of them in the fourth quarter on 5-for-5 shooting. With just under three minutes left, and the Lakers up 111-109, Reaves scored nine consecutive points to blow the game open for the Lakers.

The seventh-seeded Lakers, who were underdogs entering this series, now have a 1-0 lead over the second-seeded Grizzlies with Game 2 set for Wednesday in Memphis.

The Lakers also got a huge contribution from Rui Hachimura, who had a team-high 29 points on 11-for-14 shooting off the bench, including going 5-for-6 from beyond the 3-point line. Hachimura tied Mychal Thompson’s record in 1988 for the most points scored off the bench by a Laker in a playoff game.

The usual suspects also shined on both ends of the court. Davis had 22 points on 10-for-17 shooting, 12 rebounds, three steals and a playoff career-high seven blocks. LeBron James added 21 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies are not only left to deal with the Game 1 loss, but also, potentially, the loss of their superstar.

With less than six minutes left in the game, Ja Morant re-injured his right hand as he drove to the basket and collided with Anthony Davis. Morant took a tumble from high in the air and tried to break his fall with his right hand, which bent awkwardly when he landed.

Morant writhed on the floor in pain, went to the locker room, then returned to the bench with his right hand heavily bandaged. After the game, Grizzlies coach Tyler Jenkins told reporters that X-rays on the hand were negative.

It goes without saying how important Morant is to the Grizzlies. This season, the two-time All-Star averaged 26.2 points, 8.1 assists and 5.9 rebounds.

Morant’s injury aside, here’s to guessing Dillon Brooks regrets a comment he made last week. During a Grizzlies practice Tuesday, Brooks told reporters he “wouldn’t mind playing LeBron in a seven-game series,” adding, “Knock him out right away.”

For the Grizzlies, it looks like this series is going to be much more challenging than Brooks anticipated.

— Melissa Rohlin

Nuggets 109, Wolves 80: Minnesota can’t matchup with Denver

On a Sunday that saw the road teams win the first three games, the Nuggets were having none of the postseason drama.

Denver showed everybody why its the top-seed in the Western Conference — and that perhaps they should be getting more respect than they’re receiving — with a 109-80 rout over the eighth-seeded Timberwolves.

The Nuggets silenced anybody doubting their defense, allowing a season-low total in points and forcing the worst scoring output for the Timberwolves on the year. Holding a 55-44 lead at the break, Denver blitzed Minnesota to make it a laugher in the third quarter, holding the T-Wolves to just 14 points in the frame on 5-of-17 from the floor.

Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic delivered 13 points, 14 rebounds and six assists despite fouling out, but Denver didn’t need a triple-double from him in Game 1. The Nuggets showed their balance and Jamal Murray was at the forefront of it, going 9-for-18 after missing his first four shots and finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds and as many assists. He was one of six in double-figures.

What we saw Sunday night was that this series should go five games at a maximum. Minnesota’s strength of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert doesn’t make an impact in a matchup with Jokic, and the Wolves don’t have enough on the perimeter to outdo the Nuggets consistently.

It feels as though this Denver team might be flying under the radar, right? They should roll to an opening round series victory, and with the way the Clippers and Suns played Game 1 — LA finding a way on the road — look for those two teams to beat each other up. Things could line up well for the Nuggets — their postseason run started with a best case scenario.

— John Fanta

Heat 130, Bucks 117: What does Giannis injury mean for series?

To get the obvious out of the way, we obviously don’t have enough information about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury to even try guessing when he might return. The MVP finalist suffered what the Milwaukee Bucks have officially called a “lower back contusion” in Sunday’s first quarter after landing hard on the court following a drive to the hoop. He went back to the locker room late in the first half and did not return.

The Bucks never recovered.

Just like that, the team that finished the regular season with the best record in the league now trails 1-0 in the first round following a 130-117 loss to Miami Heat.

All of this leads us to one obvious question: How many more games does Giannis have to miss for the Heat to have a legitimate shot?

We saw what happens to the Bucks when Giannis doesn’t play. This is already a team that at times struggles generating points (15th in offense in the regular season), especially in the half court (13th during the regular season), and that relies on Giannis’ ability to push the pace and crash the glass (the Bucks were 12th in offensive rebound percentage in the regular season) to make up the difference.

So what happened in Game 1, with Giannis playing just 11 minutes? The Bucks grabbed just eight offensive rebounds and had just six fast break points. They also shot an ugly 11-of-45 from deep, and while some of these were good looks, there’s no doubt that Giannis’ absence allowed the Heat defense to key in on the Bucks’ shooters.

Oh, and let’s not forget the other end of the floor as well, where Giannis just might be the best in the NBA. Without Giannis lurking from the weak side, the Heat were able to hit Bam Adebayo in the paint with pocket passes and break down the Bucks’ normally stingy D, triggering rotations and freeing up shooters for clean looks from deep. Miami, a team that finished the regular season with the fourth-worst 3-point percentage, drilled 15 of its 25 3-point looks.

Leading the charge for the Heat, as we’ve become accustomed to in the playoffs, was Jimmy Butler. Once again he was awesome, racking up 35 Points on 55% shooting to go along with 11 assists, five rebounds and three steals. As long as Giannis is out, Butler will be the (clear) best player in the series.

After the loss, Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters that Giannis had an X-ray that came back “clear.”

“We’ll monitor him and see how he wakes up tomorrow,” he added. The Bucks also have some schedule help; Game 2 isn’t until Wednesday, while Game 3 is Saturday.

Just knowing how Giannis is wired, it’d be surprising if he doesn’t return at some point this series. All we know now is that the Bucks’ path to another title just became much more complicated.

— Yaron Weitzman

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He is the author of “Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports.” Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.