After a day off in the league on Saturday, the NBA playoffs got back underway on Sunday with one second-round series in the Eastern Conference just getting started and the last first-round series coming down to a Game 7 showdown.
The first game of the day took place at TD Garden with Isaiah Thomas’ Boston Celtics going head-to-head against John Wall’s Washington Wizards.
Washington Wizards @ Boston Celtics (Boston Leads Series, 1-0)
Isaiah Thomas put on a show in Game 1 as the All-Star point guard scored a game-high 33 points to pave the way for the Celtics’ fifth straight win and first in this series with the Wizards.
As if Thomas’ situation wasn’t tough enough with him recently returning from the funeral of his sister, the 28-year-old had one of his front teeth knocked out early in the game as he tried to fight over a screen. It didn’t seem to faze him much as he had a phenomenal performance finishing with nine assists to go along with his 33 points.
Three-point shooting was the difference maker in this contest with the Celtics red-hot from beyond the arc. Boston went 19-for-39 from distance against the Wizards shooting an incredible 48.7 percent.
Game 2 of this playoff series will be played on Tuesday in Boston before heading to Washington for Game 3 on Thursday.
Utah Jazz @ Los Angeles Clippers (Jazz Win Series, 4-3)
It all came down to Game 7 for the Los Angeles Clippers in their quest to extend their postseason. Chris Paul and company were coming off an impressive win over the Utah Jazz in Game 6 on the road to force the finale on their home court of the Staples Center.
Unfortunately for Doc Rivers, the Jazz simply outplayed the Clippers in more ways that one. Paul had been fantastic in this series, but couldn’t muster up the brilliant efforts he had in the first six games as he finished with 13 points on 6-of-19 shooting to go along with nine assists.
Although DeAndre Jordan had a monster game with 24 points and 17 rebounds, it was nowhere near enough to get the best of a Jazz team that was clearly better on Sunday. Six players scored in double figures for Utah with Gordon Hayward leading the way with a game-high 26 points.
Even without Rudy Gobert being a factor in this game due to fouling out after only 13 minutes on the floor, the Jazz cruised to victory and now will advance to face the Golden State Warriors in the second round.
Game 1 of the second-round series between the Jazz and Warriors will take place on Tuesday at Oracle Arena.