NBA Keeps the Madness Coming

By: Nate Wadley

Everybody loves college basketball and this year’s NCAA tournament was arguably one of the best. Upsets came early and often with Cinderellas, VCU and Butler, playing in Houston for the Final Four. Butler defeated the Rams and would proceed to face the Huskies of Connecticut in the championship. UConn won, Butler lost, and March Madness came to an end. Or so we all thought. With the first weekend of the NBA Playoffs coming to a close, upsets have been abundant and the lower seeds aren’t playing around.

For starters, the eight seeds in both conferences now have a right to assume that they can advance to the second round. In the East, the Indiana Pacers had the Chicago Bulls with their backs to walls for nearly the entire game until Kyle Korver’s clutch three gave the Bulls their first lead of the game with just under a minute to play. However, despite the heartbreaking loss, the Pacers revealed that this seven game series won’t be a walk in the park for the league’s best team.

Moving to the eight vs. one matchup in the West, the Memphis Grizzlies recorded their first playoff win in history against the Manu Ginobli-less San Antonio Spurs. Yet that can’t be the excuse for the Spurs. The Grizzlies failed to give in to one of, if not the, most dominant team in the past decade. With Zach Randolph leading the charge with twenty-five points and fourteen rebounds, the Grizzlies shocked the Spurs in a 101-98 win in San Antonio.

The two vs. seven game followed the same story line. The Los Angeles Lakers lost by nearly double-digits to the New Orleans Hornets.  Behind Chris Paul’s thirty-three points, fourteen assists, and seven rebounds, the Hornets took down the defending champs and quieted the Staples Center, racking up an impressive 109-100 win. Many had debated if the Lakers would turn it on now that the playoffs are upon us, and they played fairly well. But there comes a time where reputation and history doesn’t matter anymore. The teams that show up to play will win, and the fact that the Lakers are defending champs gives New Orleans that much drive to win this first round series.

And yet the Lakers weren’t the only two seed that struggled in their first game. The 76ers jumped out to an early 31-19 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Miami Heat, surely anxious because the world has both high expectations and unbelievable hatred for them, settled down and allowed the “Big 3” to carry them to a 97-89 win over Philly.

Yes, it is a seven game series. However, teams that can make their presence felt early and show that they will not be intimidated stand a good chance against the powerhouses. The lower seeds have now let the league know that despite being a sub-.500 team, they can hang with the NBA’s best. With top seeds falling already, it’ll be interesting to see just how many games each series will need for a team to advance.

Nate Wadley is the brother of Zach Wadley and is a contributor to the World of Wadley site. He is a junior in high school.