There has been at least one sweep in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last 23 years, a streak that goes back to 2004, the second year after the first round changed to a best-of-seven format.<\/p>\n
But there was only one sweep this year<\/a>, and only one other series that ended in fewer than six games. So we have two teams \u2013 the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs \u2013 that truly look like title contenders right now. Meanwhile, the other six teams that survived the first round have looked vulnerable.<\/p>\n Every series is different, though. Over the previous 23 years in the full, best-of-seven format, two eventual champions (the 2007-08 Celtics and 2013-14 Spurs) needed seven games to escape the first round, while another four needed six.<\/p>\n The Thunder and Spurs remain at the top of the Power Rankings, with the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves hoping to upset the teams that are a combined 64-12 since Feb. 1<\/p>\n Plus-Minus Players of the first round<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Previously\u2026<\/p>\n OffRtg<\/a>: Points scored per 100 possessions (League Rank) The 16 teams averaged 110.5 points scored per 100 possessions and 96.0 possessions (per team) per 48 minutes in the first round, down from 114.8 and 100.2 (for all 30 teams) in the regular season.<\/p>\n NBA.com\u2019s Power Rankings, released every Monday during the season, are just one man\u2019s opinion. If you have an issue with the rankings, or have a question or comment for John Schuhmann, contact him via Bluesky<\/a>.<\/p>\n #1<\/p>\n Playoffs: 4-0<\/p>\n OffRtg: 126.9 (1) DefRtg: 109.0 (8) NetRtg: +17.8 (2) Pace: 96.8 (7)<\/p>\n First round: Swept Phoenix<\/a> The Thunder swept through the first round for the third straight year, but they lost Jalen Williams<\/a> to another hamstring strain late in Game 2. They\u2019re now 41-10 (including 2-0 vs. the Lakers) without Williams, but his absence could certainly be felt as the playoffs get tougher.<\/p>\n First round takeaways<\/p>\n The Thunder had the No. 1 offense in the first round, not just in regard to overall efficiency<\/a>, but also relative to their opponent\u2019s regular-season numbers. They scored 14 more points per 100 possessions than the Suns allowed in the regular season, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaging 33.8 points<\/a> on a true shooting percentage of 67.8%. He shot 17-for-30<\/a> (57%) on pull-up 2-pointers.<\/p>\n After Williams\u2019 injury, Ajay Mitchell and Chet Holmgren anchored the minutes when Gilgeous-Alexander was off the floor. Mitchell was pretty inefficient (true shooting percentage of 49.8%) in the series, but the Thunder scored 57 points on 43 possessions (outscoring the Suns by 14) in 25 minutes with him and Holmgren on the floor without Gilgeous-Alexander or Williams.<\/p>\n The Suns forced 9.7 live-ball turnovers per 100 possessions in the regular season, but the Thunder committed just 5.7 per 100<\/a> over the four games. And if they\u2019re not turning the ball over, you\u2019re mostly playing against their set defense, which is not fun.<\/p>\n Coming up: Over their four regular-season meetings, the Thunder outscored the Lakers by 29.3 points per game<\/a>, the largest regular-season point differential among teams in the same conference this season. They somehow outscored L.A. by 92 points<\/a> (53.2 per 100 possessions<\/a>) in Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s 87 minutes on the floor.<\/p>\n Next game: Tue. vs. LAL, 8:30 p.m. ET, NBC\/Peacock<\/p>\n #2<\/p>\n Playoffs: 4-1<\/p>\n OffRtg: 116.6 (3) DefRtg: 102.2 (2) NetRtg: +14.3 (3) Pace: 97.1 (5)<\/p>\n First round: Beat Portland in 5 games<\/a> The Spurs\u2019 young core got their first of many playoff series wins, winning Game 3 in Portland without Victor Wembanyama (because Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper are stars, too). With the Wolves\u2019 injuries, the door to the Western Conference Finals is open, but this next series should be tougher for the Spurs\u2019 offense.<\/p>\n First round takeaways<\/p>\n It remains to be seen how much Wembanyama\u2019s minutes would be extended in a close playoff game. The only game in the first round that was within five points in the last five minutes was the one in which he suffered his hard fall (Game 2). The Spurs allowed just 95.7 points per 100 possessions<\/a> in Wembanyama\u2019s total 112 minutes, and the Blazers shot just 7-for-21<\/a> (33%) at the rim when he was there to protect it.<\/p>\n The Spurs led the first round<\/a> in 3-point percentage at 41.8%, up from 35.9% (15th) in the regular season. That jump was more than twice as big as that of any other team. Julian Champagnie was 13-for-21<\/a> (62%) from beyond the arc against Portland and Castle is now 39-for-89 (43.8%) from deep over his last 20 games.<\/p>\n The Spurs were one of three teams (the Sixers and Cavs were the others) with two first-round wins after trailing by double-digits, coming back from 15 points down in Game 3 and 19 points down in Game 4. Harper (15-for-23<\/a>) and Wembanyama (12-for-17) combined to shoot 68% after halftime over the course of the series.<\/p>\n Coming up: Wembanyama averaged 34 points in less than 29 minutes in his two games<\/a> against the Wolves in the regular season. He was defended more by Julius Randle and Jaden McDaniels<\/a> than by Rudy Gobert (who played in only one of those two games). Yet only 32% of Wembanyama\u2019s shots came in the paint, his lowest rate against any opponent. He did go 21-for-24 at the free-throw line and the Wolves had the highest opponent free-throw rate<\/a> in the first around, so he should be prepared to get hit often over the next two weeks.<\/p>\n Next game: Mon. vs. MIN, 9:30 p.m. ET, Peacock<\/p>\n #3<\/p>\n Playoffs: 4-2<\/p>\n OffRtg: 121.9 (2) DefRtg: 103.8 (3) NetRtg: +18.1 (1) Pace: 96.7 (9)<\/p>\n First round: Beat Atlanta in 6 games<\/a> The Knicks were down 2-1 in the first round, but those two losses came by a total of two points, and they won the next three games by a total of 96. The total point differential for the series (+105) was the third largest for any series in NBA history, and the largest for one that went more than five games.<\/p>\n First round takeaways<\/p>\n The Knicks scored nine more points per 100 possessions than the Hawks allowed in the regular season, the second-best (adjusted) mark in the first round. The Knicks saw both the biggest jump in effective field goal percentage and the biggest jump in free-throw rate from the regular season. Karl-Anthony Towns committed another five offensive fouls<\/a>, but also had the highest free-throw rate (71 attempts per 100 shots from the field) among the 112 players with at least 25 field goal attempts in the first round, and he was 38-for-41<\/a> (93%) from the line.<\/p>\n OG Anunoby had the best offensive series of his career, averaging 21.5 points on 61% shooting, including 17-for-30<\/a> (57%) from 3-point range. His true shooting percentage of 75.3% was the highest among the 25 players who averaged at least 20 points in the first round.<\/p>\n The Knicks were the best rebounding team<\/a> in the first round, and they outscored the Hawks by 6.2 points per game on second chances. Mitchell Robinson (19%) and Towns (17.8%) ranked first and fourth<\/a>, respectively, in individual rebounding percentage among the 142 players who averaged at least 10 minutes. Jordan Clarkson had nine offensive boards<\/a> in his 88 minutes off the bench.<\/p>\n Coming up: Tyrese Maxey (four games) and Joel Embiid (two games) each averaged at least 30 points<\/a> against the Knicks in the regular season, combining to shoot 54% (including 21-for-42 from 3-point range) in the season series. The chess match begins with how New York defends Maxey in the pick-and-roll (mostly drop coverage in the regular season) and Embiid in the post, with the Celtics having never found a good answer for either.<\/p>\n Next game: Mon. vs. PHI, 8 p.m. ET, NBC\/Peacock<\/p>\n #4<\/p>\n Playoffs: 4-2<\/p>\n OffRtg: 112.8 (6) DefRtg: 108.2 (7) NetRtg: +4.5 (5) Pace: 99.3 (1)<\/p>\n First round: Beat Denver in 6 games<\/a> The Wolves had the most impressive first round, losing Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards early in Game 4<\/a>, but they still beat the Nuggets in six games. After 19 years without a playoff series win, they\u2019re in the conference semis for a third straight year.<\/p>\n First round takeaways<\/p>\n Pistons-Magic was ugly, but the Wolves had the best adjusted defense in the first round, allowing 13 fewer points than Denver\u2019s No. 1 offense scored in the regular season. It was the Nuggets\u2019 worst six-game stretch of offense all year, even though Nikola Joki\u0107 missed 16 straight in December and January. They saw the biggest drop in effective field goal percentage and the second biggest drop in offensive rebounding percentage from the regular season to the first round.<\/p>\n Ayo Dosunmu missed Game 6, but averaged 21.8 points on a true shooting percentage of 74.9% over his five games, up from 14.4 on 61.9% over his 24 regular-season games with Minnesota. With that, the Wolves were able to outscore the Nuggets by four points (0.8 per 100 possessions) in the 107 minutes he played without Edwards.<\/p>\n The Wolves outscored the Nuggets by 12.3 points per game in the restricted area, easily the biggest differential in the first round. That was more about their offense, which saw the biggest drop in 3-point rate from the regular season (42% of their shots, 16th<\/a>) to the first round (34.5%, 14th<\/a>). Naz Reid (from 51.4% to 37.3%), Jaden McDaniels (from 30.9% to 20.2%) and Julius Randle (from 28.7% to 21.5%) saw the third, 10th and 15th biggest drops, respectively, among 112 players with at least 25 field goal attempts in the playoffs.<\/p>\n Coming up: Getting shots at the basket will be much tougher in the next round, though the Wolves had the third-best offense<\/a> (120.1 points scored per 100 possessions) against the Spurs in the regular season. That number was lower, but not terrible (114.3 per 100<\/a>) in Victor Wembanyama\u2019s 58 minutes on the floor.<\/p>\n Edwards has been cleared for basketball activities, and both he and Dosunmu are listed as questionable<\/a> for Game 1 on Monday.<\/p>\n Next game: Mon. @ SAS, 9:30 p.m. ET, Peacock<\/p>\n #5<\/p>\n Playoffs: 4-2<\/p>\n OffRtg: 107.4 (12) DefRtg: 105.2 (4) NetRtg: +2.3 (7) Pace: 92.4 (15)<\/p>\n First round: Beat Houston in 6 games<\/a> The Lakers were without Luka Don\u010di\u0107 for the entire first round and Austin Reaves for the first four games, but LeBron James and some stout defense were enough for them to reach the conference semis for the first time in three years. A much bigger test awaits.<\/p>\n First round takeaways<\/p>\n The Lakers had the least efficient offense<\/a> among the eight teams that advanced, scoring fewer points per 100 possessions than the regular-season league average (114.8) in all six games<\/a>. But they held the Rockets to 12.3 fewer per 100 than they scored in the regular season, the second biggest drop-off among the 16 teams. Houston saw the second-biggest drop in effective field goal percentage and the third-biggest drop in offensive rebounding percentage from the regular season to the first round.<\/p>\n The Lakers got destroyed in the possession game over the first four games, totaling 66 fewer shot opportunities than the Rockets. But they took much better care of the ball and were much better on the defensive glass in Games 5 and 6. Deandre Ayton had almost as many defensive boards over the last two games (20<\/a>) as he had over the first four (24).<\/p>\n Three days off in between games should help Reaves, who had an effective field goal percentage of just 40% (shooting 2-for-12<\/a> from 3-point range) in his two games. Among 112 players with at least 25 field goal attempts in the playoffs, only three (all eliminated) saw a bigger drop-off from the regular season (56.7%). Marcus Smart, meanwhile, saw the ninth-biggest jump (from 49.7% to 58%).<\/p>\n Coming up: The Lakers lost the possession game in all four of their meetings with the Oklahoma City, and they lost the four by an average of 29.3 points. Don\u010di\u0107, Reaves and James played together in only one of the four, but the Lakers were also outscored by 16 points<\/a> (37.6 per 100 possessions<\/a>) in their 18 minutes on the floor together.<\/p>\n Next game: Tue. @ OKC, 8:30 p.m. ET, NBC\/Peacock<\/p>\n #6<\/p>\n Playoffs: 4-3<\/p>\n OffRtg: 113.0 (5) DefRtg: 111.9 (10) NetRtg: +1.1 (8) Pace: 97.3 (3)<\/p>\n First round: Beat Toronto in 7 games<\/a> After a pair of comfortable wins to start the first round, things got a little hairy for the Cavs. But they finally put the Raptors away and booked their third straight trip to the conference semis with a big second half in Game 7 on Sunday.<\/p>\n First round takeaways<\/p>\n It was the start of the fourth quarter of Game 6 when the Cavs seemed to realize that they would need to ramp up the defensive intensity to win the series. That was a little too late and RJ Barrett\u2019s big-bounce 3-pointer<\/a> prevented them from winning that game. But, they turned it up a little bit earlier on Sunday. Games 6 and 7 were also their two best rebounding games<\/a> of the series, and they outscored the Raptors by 28 points (45-17<\/a>) on second chances over the two games.<\/p>\n The Cavs were outscored by three points<\/a> in 101 total minutes with James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen on the floor together, though there was a big difference<\/a> between how well they played with Dean Wade vs. Max Strus as the fifth player. Still, bench minutes were good, especially when Harden and Allen were on the floor with reserves.<\/p>\n Harden (14.9) and Mitchell (12.1) ranked fourth and 10th in isolations per 100 possessions in the first round, and the Cavs ranked last in ball movement (passes per 24 minutes of possession) through Game 6. But they got it moving a little more in Game 7, when six guys scored in double-figures and six had multiple assists.<\/p>\n Coming up: Live-ball turnovers were an issue in the first round, especially because Toronto seemed to turn most of them almost immediately into transition points. Now the Cavs will face the team (Detroit) that averaged 10.4 steals per 100 possessions<\/a> in the regular season, the most for any team in the last 13 years. That number was higher (11.3 per 100) in the four head-to-head meetings, though the Cavs still scored efficiently (113 points on just 94 possessions) in their one game against the Pistons with Harden, a four-point win<\/a> without Mitchell.<\/p>\n Next game: Tue. @ DET, 7 p.m. ET, Peacock<\/p>\n #7<\/p>\n Playoffs: 4-3<\/p>\n OffRtg: 107.5 (11) DefRtg: 101.9 (1) NetRtg: +5.6 (4) Pace: 95.6 (11)<\/p>\n First round: Beat Orlando in 7 games<\/a> The largest deficit that the Pistons came back from to win in the regular season was 17 points. But they came back from 24 down early in the third quarter in Game 6 in Orlando<\/a>, and then took care of business at home in Game 7 on Sunday to win a playoff series for the first time since 2008.<\/p>\n First round takeaways<\/p>\n The Pistons scored less efficiently than any team did<\/a> in the regular season, but they held the Magic to 12.3 fewer points per 100 possessions than they scored in the regular season. Orlando\u2019s 19 points on 47 second-half possessions (40.4 per 100) in Game 6 were the least efficient half for any team in any game (regular season, Play-In or playoffs) in the last 20 years (since March of 2006<\/a>).<\/p>\n The Magic shot 45.6% in the paint, the worst mark for any team in any playoff series in the last seven years. They shot 27-for-40 (67.5%) in the paint in Game 1 and then 41.7% thereafter.<\/p>\n Coming up: The Cavs will probably look to get the ball out of Cunningham\u2019s hands more than the Magic did. They also have more defenders that he might want to target in the pick-and-roll than Orlando, though the guy James Harden was defending set only two ball-screens for Cunningham in the one Pistons-Cavs game that Harden played in.<\/p>\n On the other end of the floor, Harden shot just 5-for-17, but it was still one of the 10 regular-season games<\/a> in which the Pistons allowed more than 120 points per 100 possessions. This will be a much harder offense to defend than that of the Magic.<\/p>\n Next game: Tue. vs. CLE, 7 p.m. ET, Peacock<\/p>\n #8<\/p>\n Playoffs: 4-3<\/p>\n OffRtg: 110.8 (8) DefRtg: 113.5 (13) NetRtg: -2.7 (11) Pace: 93.7 (13)<\/p>\n First round: Beat Boston in 7 games<\/a> The Sixers have the league\u2019s fifth-best regular-season record over the last nine seasons, but they\u2019re not one of the 18 different teams that have reached the conference finals over that stretch. It didn\u2019t look like they\u2019d get another chance to get there this year, but their series with the Celtics made a U-turn early in the second half of Game 5.<\/p>\n First round takeaways<\/p>\n Sixers-Celtics was just the second playoff series in the last five years where the winning team was outscored by double-digits. The Sixers lost Games 1 and 4 by 32 points each, and they were down 13 early in the second half of Game 5, but they held the Celtics\u2019 second-ranked offense to just 100.3 points per 100 possessions<\/a> over the final three games of the series. Boston\u2019s worst three-game stretch of offense in the regular season was 106.2 per 100.<\/p>\n Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had an effective field goal percentage of 43.3% (on 60 shots) when they were being defended by Paul George<\/a> and 57.1% otherwise.<\/p>\n Joel Embiid led the first round<\/a> in usage rate (35.3%), while also averaging 7.0 assists per game. Both that and his assist\/turnover ratio of 3.50 were his highest passing marks for any of the 13 playoff series he\u2019s played in. He didn\u2019t look great defending in space, but the Sixers still allowed 11.2 fewer points per 100 possessions<\/a> with him on the floor (106.1) than they did with him off the floor (117.3).<\/p>\n Coming up: Bench minutes could be an issue for the Sixers in the conference semis. The Knicks have had one of the best benches in the league all season, and Philly really struggled<\/a> when George or VJ Edgecombe were off the floor in the first round. It was the same scenario<\/a> in the four regular-season meetings.<\/p>\n Next game: Mon. @ NYK, 8 p.m. ET, NBC\/Peacock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guided by 31 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, top-seeded Oklahoma City completes a series sweep against Phoenix. \u2022\u00a0Download the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,210999,85],"class_list":["post-649443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-playoff-power-rankings","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
DefRtg<\/a>: Points allowed per 100 possessions (League Rank)
NetRtg<\/a>: Point differential per 100 possessions (League Rank)
Pace<\/a>: Possessions per 48 minutes (League Rank)<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/logos\/nba\/1610612760\/primary\/L\/logo.svg\" "\\""){kind=logo}
Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>Last Week:1<\/p>\n
Conf. semis: vs. Los Angeles Lakers<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/logos\/nba\/1610612759\/primary\/L\/logo.svg\" "\\""){kind=logo}
San Antonio Spurs<\/a>Last Week:2<\/p>\n
Conf. semis: vs. Minnesota<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/logos\/nba\/1610612752\/primary\/L\/logo.svg\" "\\""){kind=logo}
New York Knicks<\/a>Last Week:5\u2191<\/p>\n
Conf. semis: vs. Philadelphia<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/logos\/nba\/1610612750\/primary\/L\/logo.svg\" "\\""){kind=logo}
Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a>Last Week:10\u2191<\/p>\n
Conf. semis: vs. San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/logos\/nba\/1610612747\/primary\/L\/logo.svg\" "\\""){kind=logo}
Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>Last Week:8\u2191<\/p>\n
Conf. semis: vs. Oklahoma City<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/logos\/nba\/1610612739\/primary\/L\/logo.svg\" "\\""){kind=logo}
Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>Last Week:6<\/p>\n
Conf. semis: vs. Detroit<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/logos\/nba\/1610612765\/primary\/L\/logo.svg\" "\\""){kind=logo}
Detroit Pistons<\/a>Last Week:7<\/p>\n
Conf. semis: vs. Cleveland<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/logos\/nba\/1610612755\/primary\/L\/logo.svg\" "\\""){kind=logo}
Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>Last Week:16\u2191<\/p>\n
Conf. semis: vs. New York<\/a><\/p>\n