Mark Barrington: At least in the west, some of the lower seeded teams were just better than their playoff seed. The Warriors are the defending champs and they did poorly in the regular season because of a combination of title hangover, off season drama, a lot of missed games from their best players due to injuries, and whatever kept Wiggins from playing for the last month or so of the regular season. The Warriors roster is full strength for the playoffs, and they’re apparently using the first round to re-find their team chemistry. The Lakers team was rebuilt late in the season due to some really savvy moves by Rob Pelinka, and they’re just a lot better team in April than they were in September, and the Grizzlies don’t have the star power to overcome LeBron and AD with an excellent supporting cast.
The first round of the NBA playoffs has been full of surprises
