Rob Issa, FISM News
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Owning the best home record in the NBA didn’t matter when the Memphis Grizzlies began the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Rui Hachimura scored 21 of his career-high 29 points in the second half, LeBron James had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and the Lakers beat the Grizzlies 128-112 in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.
Austin Reaves scored the last nine points for Los Angeles and finished with 23 while Anthony Davis added 22 points and 12 rebounds in a well-rounded effort.
“It was our supporting cast that won us the game,” James said. “(Davis) set the tone defensively.”
The No. 2 seed Grizzlies not only lost home-court advantage but could be without star Ja Morant, who injured his right hand.
“We didn’t execute the priorities of the game plan,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “Get back. Execute half-court defense and get rebounds.”
Morant scored 18 points before he left with the injury. Jaren Jackson Jr. led Memphis with 31 points and Desmond Bane had 22.
“I’m in a good bit of pain,” Morant said. “My main focus was to be out there for my guys. Another incident where that’s pretty much in jeopardy.”
HEAT UPSET BUCKS
In the opening game of the Eastern Conference’s 1-8 matchup, the Miami Heat upset the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks 130-117 to take an early lead in the best-of-seven series.
Jimmy Butler scored 35 points to lead the Heat, who lost Tyler Herro to a broken hand. Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t play the second half because of a lower back injury.
Antetokounmpo was injured on a hard fall while driving to the basket.
“There was an X-ray that was clear here,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We’ll monitor him and see how he does, see how he wakes up, how he feels the rest of tonight and tomorrow.”
The Bucks are hopeful the two-time MVP could return for Game 2 on Wednesday.
“We have to wait and see what the doctors say, most importantly what Giannis says,” Budenholzer said. “Certainly we’ve been blessed with him being resilient and quick to heal, but you’ve just got to take it day by day, see how he’s doing and see how he feels.”
CLIPPERS GIVE SUNS FIRST LOSS WITH DURANT
The Phoenix Suns’ first loss with Kevin Durant on the floor came in the opener of their playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night. Durant scored 27 points for the Suns, who were 8-0 with the two-time NBA Finals MVP after he was acquired in a trade with Brooklyn in February.
Kawhi Leonard led the fifth-seeded Clippers with 38 points, including two late 3-pointers. Russell Westbrook had just nine points on 3-for-19 shooting, but contributed to the victory with 10 rebounds, eight assists, three blocks, and two steals.
“Making winning plays, getting deflections on balls, offensive rebounding, getting us into our sets — that is playoff basketball,” Leonard said of Westbrook. “You might not have the best night shooting, but you’ve got to impact the game some type of way and he did that tonight.”
NUGGETS DOMINATE TIMBERWOLVES
The Western Conference’s No. 1 seed — the Denver Nuggets — opened with a 119-80 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jamal Murray scored 24 points and had eight assists and Nikola Jokic added 13 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes for the Nuggets. Michael Porter Jr. chipped in with 18 points.
“It wasn’t even offense. I think Mike and I struggled early and we were still playing defense. We were running the floor playing defense, boxing out, playing physical. Everybody made an impact.”
Denver was the only higher seed to win on its home court Sunday.
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 18 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 11.