A wild weekend of elimination games keeps the first round of the NBA playoffs alive for several teams. 
While there are three series with a team currently holding three wins, the competition has certainly revved up. Portland Trailblazers’ point guard Damian Lillard came alive against the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday, notching 32 points on 12-23 shooting from the floor. However, it should be noted Grizzlies’ point guard Mike Conley is out without a timetable for return after getting surgery for multiple fractures in his face. The impact here is that Conley is 11-2 against Lillard on the season. Memphis may be ahead 3-1 and can finish the series off Wednesday, but without Conley this raises the task difficulty level extremely, especially considering Portland’s point guard is known for performing in big moments.
Moving to the Eastern Conference, two series are done with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washing Wizard finishing the sweeps, but the other two match-ups weren’t willing to write the same story. Lionel Hollins’ coaching may be starting to take root in Brooklyn. His eighth-seeded Nets are tied with the number one seeded Atlanta Hawks. Last night’s win for the Nets could’ve been a flashback or throwback if it were a Thursday for Friday because of Nets’ point guard Deron Williams’ performance. Williams played with young legs and notched 35 points to help tie the series 2-2, making it two wins in a row for Brooklyn. It’ll be hard to recreate this performance for Williams though. Playing 45 minutes begins to be a struggle for a 9-year vet, but the Nets are showing they belong in this series.
On the bottom part of this bracket, it seems the Chicago Bulls’ minds aren’t on the Milwaukee Bucks right now. Although no team should focus on the next opponent when a team’s up 3-0 and they know who their next opponent is it does raise an eyebrow or two. However, lack of focus is costing the Bulls. After 21 turnovers in a game fours loss, Chicago didn’t do much to solve the problem. Although they dropped their turnovers down to just 12, Derrick Rose accounted for half of them and was just 5-20 shooting on the floor, not to mention 0-7 from beyond the arch. The hometown star must perform better to help close this series out or else his team could be on the verge of giving up an historic comeback series victory to Milwaukee.
Bringing this full circle back into the Western Conference, it is a wild show in between San Antonio and Los Angeles. The Spurs and Clippers are battling it out in a series battle of two great coaching minds. After game one domination for the Clippers, the Spurs were able to bounce back and two in a row. It seemed they had the series in hand, a team who leads 2-1 is 69 percent likely to win the series, but the Clippers were not in the mood for statistics. After another 30-point game performance for Chris Paul, the series heads back to Los Angeles with a tied series at 2-2. The Spurs are championship run last year which started with a 7-game series against the Dallas Mavericks, and although San Antonio may not want to start this playoff run in the same fashion, they may very well be headed to seven if someone doesn’t win two in a row.
Speaking of Dallas, the Mavericks were finally able to finish a game and beat the Houston Rockets Sunday. Now they are another team down 3-1 in these playoffs, but that doesn’t mean there is no way they can at least bring this series to seven. Although Houston has had the upper-hand, they barely escaped with a 130-128 win. Mavericks guard Monta Ellis remembered his terribly-off target buzzer beating shot in game three and came back with 31 points. They’re going to need to find a way to win in Houston, although with 118-108 and 111-99 losses in games one and two respectively, it is a tough call for the Mavericks to bring the series back to Dallas. Rick Carisle will have to find a way to get his team defensively sound for the next game in order to win. Yes, it is ridiculous to say that good defense means holding a team to under 110 points could get you a victory, but that is the standard here. Dallas can score at Houston’s pace, but if they don’t have to do so they can win tonight’s game and stay alive for another day.
These playoffs started with the typical sweep expectations, but the underdog philosophy is starting to take shape. Round two of the NBA playoffs has almost arrived, and all teams want the Larry O’Brien trophy. That motivation seems to be takin physical form with the performances of teams on the brink of ending their seasons.