With the conclusion of Wednesday night’s matchups, every team in this year’s NBA playoff field has completed the first two games of their respective series. Some, like the Oklahoma City Thunder’s dismantling of the Memphis Grizzlies, are going pretty much as expected. Others, like the New York Knicks’ clash against the Detroit Pistons, are proving more competitive than projections suggested. Above all, the promise of the crowded regular-season standings have delivered the anticipated result—entertaining and intense playoff basketball.
The opening salvo of postseason play over the last five days has given the basketball world a glimpse at what these teams are like and where their identities lie. The differences may be slight from the regular season, but they are there; the crunches of postseason play tend to alter on-court play in ways big and small. Then there are the adjustments that come in-game and over the course of a series, tweaks made by the coaching staff to best take advantage of an opponent’s weakness.
