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The opening tip

Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young hit a floater in the final seconds to beat the New York Knicks. (Seth Wenig/AP)

By Ben Golliver
with Thomas Johnson

Trae Young shines brightest in opening weekend filled with memorable playoff debuts

The NBA playoffs are off and running thanks to an opening weekend marked by raucous crowds and clutch heroics.

Rises in arena capacities and defensive intensity felt like a big step toward pre-pandemic normalcy. But the first 48 hours of playoff basketball made it clear that there are several new faces to account for as the league gets back to business.

Look no further than Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, who spoiled the party at Madison Square Garden by drilling a floater for a 107-105 victory over the New York Knicks. The 22-year-old Young, making his playoff debut in his third season, brought his finger to his lips to silence the crowd after enduring profane chants throughout the night. The Knicks' supporters, of course, were especially rowdy with their franchise in the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

"If they hate me that much, I'm obviously doing something right," said Young, who finished with a game-high 32 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. "At the end of the day, fans can only talk. They can't guard me. I know the history of players coming in [to Madison Square Garden] and being hated. I take that as a compliment."

Young exercised maximum patience to set up his final shot, crossing over four times to shake free from Frank Ntilikina before driving hard to his right. With three defenders surrounding him as he entered the lane, Young lofted a shot over Julius Randle that rattled in with 0.9 seconds left. Afterward, the all-star guard said that he had told his teammates in the huddle before his shot that he was planning to make a play.

"The moment wasn't too big for him," veteran Hawks guard Lou Williams said. "He belongs. This is a coming-out party for him, and he's ready to do it. What a hell of a place to have your debut, right? Madison Square Garden. Leading up to the playoffs, he was very excited. I'm sure he's dreamed of moments like this. … I just told him, 'Don't pass the ball.'"

With both Atlanta and New York exceeding expectations this season, their first-round series became center stage for players making their postseason debuts. Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, signed away from the Sacramento Kings during the offseason, notched 18 points, including a game-tying three-pointer in the final minute in his debut.

Randle and Knicks guard RJ Barrett encountered tougher sledding in their first postseason appearances. Randle, harassed by extra attention all night, posted 15 points and 12 rebounds, but shot just 6-23 from the field. The first-time all-star offered "no excuses" afterward and pledged to "be better" as the series unfolds. Barrett added 14 points and 11 rebounds in the heartbreaking loss, as the Knicks were kept afloat by veterans Alec Burks and Derrick Rose.

"If [Randle] is getting double-teamed like that, he's dealt with it all season long," Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Just trust the pass. There may have been opportunities for him where he was too unselfish."

Elsewhere, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton played well in their postseason debuts for the Phoenix Suns, who defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 99-90, on Sunday. Booker, 24, took over the role of lead playmaker after Chris Paul suffered a right shoulder contusion, posting a game-high 34 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in the comfortable win. The 22-year-old Ayton outplayed the Lakers' frontline to the tune of 21 points and 16 rebounds, looking confident and assertive against the defending champions and their top-ranked defense.

"That's how we've been all season long," Paul said. "We've been a complete team. I wasn't worried [when I got injured]. This game was representative of how we've been all season long: Next man up and play together."

Jalen Brunson, a 2018 second-round pick who missed the bubble due to a shoulder injury, scored 15 points off the bench in his postseason debut for the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday. The third-year guard hit four free throws to close out a 113-103 road win over the favored Los Angeles Clippers.

And in Sunday's nightcap, Dillon Brooks, a fourth-year guard, set a franchise record for scoring in a playoff debut with 31 points for the Memphis Grizzlies, who haven't reached the postseason since 2017. Grizzlies guard Ja Morant also tallied 26 points and four assists in a 112-109 upset win over the top-seeded Utah Jazz in his first taste of the postseason. Morant, who was sensational in Memphis's upset of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in last week's play-in, looks wise and polished beyond his 21 years.

Of this weekend's many promising first acts, none will endure quite like Young's dagger. He has collected doubts about his size, defensive capabilities, shot selection and ball dominance during his three-year career, and he listened to Madison Square Garden fans chant "F--- Trae Young" at various points of Game 1 to intimidate him.

Young's response was cold-blooded, and he channeled his "Ice Trae" nickname by rubbing his shoulders as if he were shivering after shushing the crowd. Filmmaker Spike Lee, who had been jubilant moments earlier, could only stare dejectedly into space with his hands on his hips.

"I always remember everything," Young said of the heckling. "It got quiet after I hit the shot. That's about it."

Recapping the action

Suns survive Chris Paul's shoulder scare and a scrum with the Lakers to take Game 1

Analysis ● By Ben Golliver ● Read more »

The Clippers wanted to avoid LeBron James. Now they're stuck with Luka Doncic.

Analysis ● By Ben Golliver ● Read more »

What to know about the 2021 NBA playoffs

By Ava Wallace and Ben Golliver ● Read more »

For the Wizards, Game 1 was there for the taking. Then the Sixers took it.

Analysis ● By Candace Buckner ● Read more »

With blurred vision but pinpoint accuracy, LeBron James buries late three to rescue Lakers

By Ben Golliver and Des Bieler ● Read more »

The best of #NBATwitter and R/NBA

So that was quite an opening weekend to the NBA Playoffs, post-bubble edition™, as Ben Golliver wrote above.

Here are a few more highlights that reverberated across social media:

Luka Doncic gave Patrick Beverley a healthy dollop of trash talk, telling the noted agitator he was "too small" on the way to a Game 1 win.
Carmelo Anthony returned to Denver to face his old team, was lustily booed, then responded with a barrage of three-pointers, helping the Trail Blazers upset the third-seeded Nuggets in Game 1. "The boos? It's cool man, I love them too," Anthony said after the game.

The upstart Memphis Grizzlies followed up their play-in game upset with an even more improbable win against the top-seeded Utah Jazz, in large part due to the play of Dillon Brooks, who was drafted 45th overall in 2017.
Golliver already mentioned this but the crowd energy, most notably at Madison Square Garden, really cannot be overstated. New York Knicks fans let out a decade's worth of pent up, and at times profane, playoff energy. Trae Young, playing the role of 2021 Reggie Miller, threw it right back to them. A lot of fans get annoyed whenever commentators say some version of "playoff basketball is more fun when [Chicago, L.A. or N.Y.] are good" …. but in this case, it's hard to argue with that cliche.
And finally, even though it's almost a week old at this point, let's watch that LeBron James game-winning three over Stephen Curry one more time. If ever there were a singular game to make the case for the continued existence of the play-in tournament, this was it. And it would appear NBA Commissioner Adam Silver shares my enthusiasm.

On Sunday, James and the Lakers opened their first-round series against second seed Phoenix Suns. In case you didn't catch the many references to James's long-time friendship with Chris Paul, don't worry, you'll hear about it roughly a hundred more times over the next few weeks.

Based on the physicality in Game 1, which included several technical fouls and an ejection, the series could wind up being the most combative first-round matchup.

Most notably, both Paul and James sustained injuries, with Paul seemingly playing a large portion of the game without full use of his right arm, which is not exactly ideal considering he's right-handed.

James's injury came when Paul locked arms with him when James jumped for a rebound, a play that Lakers coach Frank Vogel called "dirty." Paul disagreed with that assessment, and told reporters: "We're just playing basketball and competing."

At the risk of hyperbole, this reminded me a tiny bit of the 1988 Finals between good pals, Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas. The series began with the two stars kissing on the cheek, but their friendship by no means precluded plenty of hard fouls and physical play — not surprising whenever the Bad Boy Pistons were involved.

That's not to say that this series could approach that level of fouling and scowling, but at the very least it could make for an entertaining first-round subplot — not that we're running low on them this year.