Each one is beautiful in its own way: the surprises, trends and tests of the start of the playoffs

While the clear contenders for the crown face unexpected challenges, Boston and Golden State are proving to be exciting phenomena - one with exemplary defense, the other with a one-time attack.

Ravitz with first impressions, including the test of Ambide and Harden, the surprise near Doncic and the leeches that do not give rest to Durant and Kyrie

Assaf Ravitz

24/04/2022

Sunday, April 24, 2022, 2:30 p.m.

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Boston celebrates victory over Brooklyn in Game 3 (from the official Celtics Twitter)

The first week of the playoffs is a reminder of how much the post-season level is higher than the regular season.

The level of offensive and defensive performance, the attention to the smallest nuances, the adjustments that each team makes during the series - the amount of things that can be talked about after eight days is enormous.

But it is not possible to analyze all eight series in one article, so today I will focus on general trends and particularly prominent phenomena.

Here are five points about the first week.

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Chris Middleton (Photo: GettyImages, Stacy Revere)

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• Natural and home treatment for knee pain - with reimbursement from the health insurance fund

Yes, the injuries again

There is no post-season that is not greatly affected by injuries, and yet every year anew the feeling is that this time it is excessive.

Also this year.

If you also consider Zion Williamson and Ben Simmons, there was a stage during the week where 10 of the 16 teams lacked an important top five player, in most cases one of the two or three important players on the team.

The only series that has not been affected so far by the injury of a significant player, whether before or during the series, is the one between Memphis and Minnesota.

I feel tired of repeating the overload discussion, bottom line no one will yet agree to reduce the amount of games, including player organization, because that means loss of income.

But the result is that in the playoffs, where the level is so higher than in the regular season, too many series lose value due to injuries and the feeling is that championships are decided in a kind of cruel knee-jerk lottery.

This year it may be really excessive than usual, because the playoffs come after two tough years because of the ongoing corona effect.

Shorter breaks and seasons are more crowded, many players have fallen ill and gone out of their rhythm.

It's probably no coincidence that two of last week's injured are Devin Booker and Chris Middleton, who played in the final towards the end of July and went straight from there to the Olympic team.

Luka Doncic, who was injured in the final game of the regular season, also had a tough summer that included playoffs, a pre-Olympic tournament and an Olympic tournament.

In all three cases, the injury is likely due to, among other things, wear and tear.

They are also likely to return as early as possible, making them vulnerable to further injuries.

The fitness time of the sub-players.

Eyton (Photo: GettyImages, Jonathan Bachman)

Injuries as a test

This year, along with long-term injuries, there are quite a few smaller injuries that disable players for several weeks.

When this happens to some of the top contenders for the championship, it becomes an interesting test for them.

Perhaps with the amount of injuries today, that too will be a measure of a team's greatness this year and in the years to come: to go all the way you need to build a team that knows how to deal with a significant player injury for several weeks in the playoffs.

Boker and Middleton's injuries have made the champion and runner - up's first round series, both very strong candidates to return to the final, much more interesting.

They both lost a home game and reached the third game away when they had to win to avoid an unexpected complication.

They both did a good job.

Milwaukee moved to a tall lineup that simply stifled the Chicago offense and led to an easy win, suddenly it was back to being the formidable champion after two lukewarm first games.

Phoenix allowed Diandra Eyton to mention how talented he is as a scorer until Chris Paul took over in the final quarter.

Boston also did great without Robert Williams, a less important player but one of the team's defensive strongholds.

Al Horford stepped into his role as head of help, and it's amazing to see how good he is in any defensive role he gets just before his 36th birthday. And perhaps the most important test was of Dallas without Luka Doncic.

The rival, Utah, may be a ballooning and mostly very mentally weak team (maybe tonight's win will wake it up), but Dallas' ability to win two of three games without Luca is surprising, impressive and gives, for the first time, reason to believe this roster as a worthy assistant to one of the league's big stars.

Jason Kidd's offense has once again revealed Utah's inability to deal with five outfield lineups, but the more impressive part of the first three games is the defense.

As a direct sequel to the second half of the regular season, the Dallas defense is strong, steady and takes the sting out of Utah’s offensive game.

This is happening a lot thanks to the great effort of the first line of defense, led by Dorian Pini-Smith

Who would have believed that there was someone to trust in Dallas when she was out?

Jaylen Branson in action, Doncic watching (Photo: GettyImages, Alex Goodlett)

Lower, slower

The NBA League is constantly changing.

In the regular season, along with the fast pace maintained and the multiplicity of threes, quite a few teams have gone against the flow of recent years and moved to high formations, mainly for defensive purposes.

The first week of the playoffs is a good time to look at which trends are surviving in real time as well.

These are the initial results: All teams continue to throw a lot of threes, but the pace is much slower.

Five of the series run at a slower pace than the pace of 29 or 30 teams in the regular season.

Coaches place much more emphasis on dropping the defense and preventing the opponent from running, some giving up almost entirely on an offensive rebound for that purpose.

This makes the ability to create standing shots in a standing attack much more important.

The only fast-paced series is the chaotic series between the young Memphis and Minnesota.

It's convenient for Memphis, which was the best running team in the regular season, but it will not be able to expect such a pace in the next series, if it passes.

What about size?

In general, in the playoffs again the tendency is towards the lower lineups, more and more high lineups are having a hard time surviving.

Stephen Adams survived a game and two minutes before Tyler Jenkins realized the series against Minnesota was not for him and moved to a low lineup.

Dallas is dismantling Utah with the help of vehicles without a real chin.

Atlanta, following Clint Capella's injury and having difficulty creating shot situations in the first game, comes up with John Collins as center.

Golden State, of course, uses long minutes of very low lineups even against Nikola Jokic.

But this time there are also opposite trends.

Milwaukee advanced to the final game with a quintet that includes Yannis Antocompo, Bobby Fortis and Brock Lopez and completely sealed the point.

Boston insists on a vehicle with two highs, preferring Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to attack mobile chins rather than low guards that can be shot over them, the trend will only intensify with the return of Robert Williams.

Teams formulate their identities based on their player material,

And with the inflation of mobile highs with outside shooting coming into the league, it is likely that in the near future we will see more and more tall vehicles setting the tone and forcing low teams to respond.

But in the meantime the lower leagues are still dominant in the playoffs.

Golden State's new death cast is truly no exception.

Green and Kerry (Photo: GettyImages, Matthew Stockman)

The big ones justify their status

After three or four games in each series, none of the away teams lead.

In six series the home team leads, two are in a 2: 2 tie.

In both the home team can be marked as a clear favorite to win the series: Dallas with Luca is simply a better team than the current Utah, Memphis looks more cohesive and committed than Minnesota (Patrick Beverly came to implant a character in Wolves, but time and time again the body seems to reject the foreign bone).

Things can still turn around, but the most likely option right now is for all four to advance to the second round in both the East and the West.

With all the fondness for the underdog, this is good news because it indicates that the big teams have arrived ready.

The later rounds this year may be of exceptional quality.

The playoffs began with performances by several next-generation players: Jordan Paul, Tyrese Maxi, Anthony Edwards.

But each passing day emphasizes the importance of accumulated experience.

Most of the big teams this year are the ones that have already come very far in the playoffs in their current format, and that helps them look mature for the next stage, they know what it means to play in four series.

Milwaukee has question marks around the rotation, but it looks like a team with the heart and confidence of a champion that will not be easy to subdue.

Phoenix only improved compared to last year and not sure there is a better team than it in creating good shot situations.

Miami France to the skeleton who reached the final in a bubble of winning players, she built an elimination unit that does not intend to fear anyone (blackmailer on Trey Young, who despite the treatment of the hit defense was not willing to part with the series without recording a victory in his name).

All three of these can be imagined going all the way.

Philadelphia is still in question in this regard.

Joel Ambide & G.'s Assistant Team

James Harden went insanely into the playoffs and made the minefield series against Toronto easy (injuries to the Raptors help), if they continue like this they too can be taken into account.

And this list does not include the two most impressive groups in the first week, which require a separate section.

Do not build on them (for now).

Harden and Ambide (Photo: GettyImages, Mark Blinch)

Golden State and Boston

The current generation's showtime team is back in the playoffs and looks great.

The exciting style, the joy of life, the quality protection - all there in the new version of the Warriors as well.

Steph Kerry, Clay Thompson and Raymond Green look like themselves, despite age and injuries, and are joined by Jordan Paul who looks like he's always been there.

The addition of Brother Splash III allows Steve Kerr to play with at least two of them throughout the 48 minutes, which means the defense has no moment to rest.

When all three play together it is already a symphony of mutual blockages and coordinated movement that is not sure there is a logical way to stop.

The new lethal low quintet, of the trio with Drey and Andrew Wiggins, who feels very comfortable as the fifth rib, already looks like the scariest quintet in this playoffs.

We still do not have too much information about Clay's defensive ability after the injury, the current Denver is not a team that is considering personal defense of outside players, in the coming rounds we will be smarter about one of the only key questions left.

It is already far beyond the fulfillment of the promise.

Smart and Tatum (Photo: GettyImages, Al Bello)

On the other side of America, it could very well be that Boston is building a start of something big of a different kind.

She reached the playoffs as a defensive promise, and in the first three games against Brooklyn kept that promise in full.

The Celtics' defensive display in this series is no less exemplary, the work on Kevin Durant is the best defense I can remember for this one-time scorer.

Jason Taitum looks like the perfect stopwatch for him, Grant Williams gets along with him with surprising ease, and anyone who gets him in exchange also forces him with hard shots.

Marcus Smart is making life bitter for Kyrie Irving, all the other rotation players are contributing their share and there is not a single weak link.

And that, remember, when one of the team's important defensive players only came back for a few minutes in the last game.

Taitum also looks like a player around whom a winning attack can be built, the wonderful basket of victory in the first game (the moment I take from the first week. The composure and awareness of Smart's watch at such a moment are not perceived) only strengthened his confidence.

Boston turned the series that was supposed to be fascinating in the first round into a one-sided one (even though all the games are close).

If there are no surprises, Aima Yuduka's next defensive challenge will be called Yannis Antokompo.

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• Boston Celtics

• Golden State Warriors

• Milwaukee Bucks