Recapping Sunday’s NBA playoffs, Monday games

The Miami Heat are one win closer to defending their title after Sunday night’s Game 1 NBA playoff win at home over the Milwaukee Bucks 110-87. LeBron James led all scorers with 27 points, and he added 10 rebounds and eight assists to his stat sheet as well. James received a lot of criticism leading up to the playoffs for possibly not giving his full effort after the Heat locked up home court advantage, but he said it really help him in preparation for this series.

Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis did their part to try to give the Bucks a shot to win, respectively scoring 26 and 22 points. Milwaukee was able to keep it close in the first half, but they never held a lead at any point in Sunday night’s game. Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra credits that to his team’s ability to generate runs at any time.

Game 2 of this series tips off Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Miami.

As for the rest of the league, the playoffs have shown a lot of favor to the home team with all eight home teams winning their first-round games. Indiana was able to ride Paul George’s triple double (23 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) to a 107-90 win over Al Horford and the Atlanta Hawks. Game 2 of that series is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night in Indiana.

Manu Ginobili was able to give San Antonio the edge in Sunday’s 91-79 win over the LA Lakers, scoring 18 points in 19 minutes in his return from injury. San Antonio’s bench did their part in the win by out scoring LA’s bench 40-10. Game 2 of this series will start Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m.

Finally, James Harden’s 20 points weren’t nearly enough to steal one from his old team as Oklahoma City successfully defended their home court 120-91 in Game 1. Thunder forward Kevin Durant lead all scorers with 24 points in 34 minutes played. Game 2 is set to tip Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Oklahoma City.

On Monday, Chicago is at Brooklyn with the Nets up 1-0, and Memphis is at the LA Clippers with LA up 1-0.