The 2020 NBA Playoffs tip off on Monday with a quadruple header. The action tips off at 1:30 ET and goes all day long. Get ready for Monday’s quartet of Game 1s with five keys stats to know about each matchup.
Game 1: Utah Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets, 1:30 ET, League Pass
- Rudy Gobert defended Nikola Jokic for 28:27 of matchup time during their three regular season meetings. Jokic scored 55 points on 48.9% shooting, but had just five assists and six turnovers over those 105 possessions against Gobert.
- Nikola Jokic led all centers and finished 13th among all players in assists this season at 7.0 per game. For the season, Jamal Murray was Jokic’s top assist partner with 1.7 assists per game going to Murray. During the restart, it was Michael Porter Jr., who averaged 2.6 assists per game from Jokic.
- The Jazz will be without Mike Conley for at least the first two games of the series as he was excused from the NBA campus to join his wife for the birth of their third child. Conley was Utah’s second-leading scorer during the seeding games at 18.0 points per game as the Jazz were already without their season-long second-leading scorer Bojan Bogdanovic (20.2 PPG), who is out for the season.
- With the Nuggets without starters Gary Harris and Will Barton during the seeding games, rookie Michael Porter Jr. was placed in the starting lineup and showcased his talents. He led the team in scoring (22.0 PPG) and rebounding (8.6 RPG), while shooting 50-40-90 (55.1 FG%, 42.2 3P%, 93.1 FT%) and adding 8.6 rebounds.
- Donovan Mitchell’s scoring and shooting percentages took a dip during the seeding games. Prior to the hiatus, Mitchell averaged 24.2 points on 45.3% shooting. During the restart, those numbers fell to 21.7 points and 39.3% shooting.
Game 1: Brooklyn Nets vs. Toronto Raptors, 4:00 ET, League Pass
- The Raptors led all teams in defensive efficiency during the seeding games, allowing just 102.7 points per 100 possessions and an effective field goal percentage of 50.0% (2nd in restart).
- The Raptors ranked 18th in offensive efficiency during the seeding games, scoring 106.9 points per 100 possessions. According to John Schuhmann, the Raptors are 39-1 this season when they score at least 109 points per 100 possessions, which is 1.1 points lower than the league average. In their loss to Brooklyn on Feb. 12, the Raptors scored just 91 points on 98 possessions, shooting 38% and attempting just 13 free throws.
- Caris LeVert was the star of the seeding games for Brooklyn, averaging 25.0 points, 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds. He joined James Harden and Luka Doncic as the only players to average at least 25-5-5 in the seeding games. The Nets are 6-5 on the season when LeVert scores at least 25 points, including wins in four of the last five instances.
- Among players that made at least 10 3-pointers in the seeding games, Joe Harris ranked fifth in 3-point percentage at 54.1%. Among the 225 players that attempted at least 100 catch-and-shoots this season, Harris ranked ninth with an effective field goal percentage of 66.2%.
- Toronto won the the season series over Brooklyn 3-1 with the Nets wing the last meeting on Feb. 12. Fred VanVleet has led the Raptors with 26.7 points per game against the Nets; it is his highest scoring average against any opponent he faced more than once this season.
Game 1: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics, 6:30 ET, League Pass
- Philadelphia won the season series with Boston 3-1 behind 21.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game from Joel Embiid. Embiid is one of only five players to average at least 20 and 10 against the Celtics this season among the 268 player that faced them at least twice.
- Boston averaged just 104 points per game against the Sixers in four meetings this season. That is their third-lowest scoring average against any team, and lowest among Eastern Conference opponents, this season. Kemba Walker led the Celtics in scoring against the Sixers at 22.3 points per game in three appearances; however the Celtics were outscored by 34 points in Walker’s 103 minutes on the court.
- Jayson Tatum averaged 19 points on 33.3% shooting against the Sixers this season. As John Schuhmann notes, no player defended Tatum more than Ben Simmons (24:23 matchup time) and during that time, Tatum scored 18 total points on 5-16 (31.3%) shooting. With Simmons out for the series, the Sixers will need to find another player to slow down Tatum.
- In three games against his former team this season, Al Horford averaged 14.0 points on 45.7% shooting to go with 6.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 30.8 minutes. During the seeding games, Horford averaged 10.9 points on 54.5% shooting from the field and 52.6% (10-19) from three in 25.4 minutes per game.
- Jaylen Brown struggled against the Sixers in the regular season, averaging just 13.5 points on 42% shooting from the field and 23.5% from three over the four games. It is Brown’s lowest scoring average against any Eastern Conference team this season.
Game 1: Dallas Mavericks vs. LA Clippers, 9:00 ET, League Pass
- Dallas (115.9) and LA (113.3) ranked 1st and 2nd, respectively, in offensive efficiency this season. Dallas’ mark was the highest since 1996-97 and the Clippers’ was 11th.
- During the seeding games, Luka Doncic ranked sixth in scoring (30.0 PPG), eighth in rebounding (10.1 RPG) and second in assists (9.7 APG), just falling shy of averaging a 30-point triple-double during the restart.
- The Mavericks and Clippers were the only two teams to have teammates finish in the top 10 in scoring during the seeding games: Dallas’ Kristaps Porzingis (30.5, T-4th) and Luka Doncic (30.0, 6th) and LA’s Kawhi Leonard (28.8, 7th) and Paul George (10th). This will be the playoff debut for both Doncic and Porzingis, while the LA duo has played a combined 187 career playoff games.
- Dallas led all teams with an average of 29.9 free throws attempted during the seeding games with Luka Doncic (10.1 FTA) and Kristaps Porzingis (9.2) ranking second and sixth, respectively, on an individual basis. Prior to the hiatus, it was LA that led the league with 26.2 FTA per game, while Dallas ranked 15th at 23.1.
- As John Schuhmann notes, the Clippers were 12.7 points per 100 possessions better with Kawhi Leonard on the floor (plus-12.2) than they were with him off the floor (minus-0.5) this season. In the season series against Dallas, the Clippers outscored the Mavs by 38 points in 103 minutes with Leonard on the floor, while Dallas was a plus-5 in 41 minutes with Leonard off the floor.
