The opening weekend of the 2018 NBA Playoffs saw two Game 1 road winners and only a few games that did not come down to the final possession. All in all, it was a fantastic start to the postseason.

Here are some game notes and key moments from the weekend, along with a few ideas on how the losing teams can change their fortunes in Game 2.

Pacers 98, Cavaliers 80

Heading into the series, it was clear that Cleveland could not have earned any confidence in its defense. The Cavaliers had been a bottom five team on defense all season and had ticked up to about 20th overall just in looking at the final six weeks or so of the season. 

Evaluating a defense’s problems in a playoff series, in terms of criticizing the execution or the game plan inside any one game, can be tricky since we are typically not privy to the actual game plan. Thus, it’s hard to tell if the plan was bad or the execution of the plan. However, in the case of how Cleveland defended Victor Oladipo’s perimeter shooting on Sunday at home, whether the plan or the execution was bad is irrelevant. 

One or the other has to change. 

While Oladipo is a terrific driver, he is also a good 3-point shooter. He had some challenging months making 3s this year so it’s fair to guess that the Cavs were told to not risk leaving people wide open who were bigger threats to score than Oladipo. His 6-for-9 shooting performance from 3-point range may change their viewpoint moving forward—at the very least, compelling them to close him out hot on catches for a change. 

Cleveland is clearly worried about its ability to defend him in one-on-one matchups, but the Cavs can’t just sit back and let him take uncontested 3s. 

Though Cleveland's offense had its share of problems against the aggressive on-ball defense the Pacers exhibited all season, it is fair to expect better production from one of the league's top overall offenses. Without it, the Cavaliers have no shot in the series. 

Even when they get better play on that end, guarding the Pacers is going to be their top challenge. The Oladipo issue only highlights their overall problem: They only have one or two players who are good at controlling the driver in isolations. 

All game long Indiana pulled the ball out or started its attack from far out on the court in the matchup it wanted, blowing by the stationary on-ball defender and getting to the rim before help arrived. Either the Cavs didn’t think those Pacers players could finish shots or the help defenders were just too slow to react.

Preventing straight line drives, especially those that came from so far out that any defender had time to rotate, should be in the team’s pre-game focus for Game 2 on Wednesday in Cleveland. 

Thunder 116, Jazz 108

The Thunder took control of the game after a terrible start thanks to some outstanding shooting on what would normally be considered tough shots. 

This is the fulcrum of the series. 

Utah makes teams take tougher shots than anyone, OKC is one of the better NBA teams at making tough shots. The Jazz can decide not to alter their defensive strategy in Game 2—opting, instead, to wait and see if Paul George, for starters, can continue to make those kinds of shots. 

It’s a risk to be sure, as George is a proven tough-shot maker in the playoffs, and with Russell Westbrook on the court and Steven Adams in the paint—strong enough to overpower Rudy Gobert—running two players at George to make him a passer is a risky move. 

Still, it might have to happen.

Rockets 104, Timberwolves 101

The Rockets won the game Sunday in Houston and are very likely to win the series, but Minnesota obviously played them far tougher than the hosts would hope for in a No. 1 vs. 8 seed matchup. 

Following the game, it seemed most people were focused on how seldom Karl-Anthony Towns was used in the Wolves' half-court offense—especially when compared to his far less famous counterpart, Clint Capela, who killed Minnesota all night at the rim off pick and rolls. 

In his postgame press conference comments, Tom Thibodeau said that if Towns wants more than nine shots (Capela made 10 shots, while KAT only took nine) he needed to move more. Yet, Towns can be a very hard man to defend when he is posting up. 

Demanding Towns does so more often has to be met with a willingness from his teammates on the court to utilize him. It is unlikely the Wolves will be able to solve Houston’s offense, so outscoring them is the only alternative. Minnesota can’t do that by living off of two-point possessions off of post-ups, but if the Wolves focus on extending their perimeter defense to force more two-point attempts by Houston, they can live with a post-centric offense easier on their own end.

Few teams Houston faced all year have three capable paint scorers like Minnesota has in Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Jimmy Butler.

Celtics 113, Bucks 107

The Celtics will necessarily go through rough scoring patches without their top offensive players. They relied on exquisite play design and execution to generate the bulk of their baskets in Game 1 on Sunday in Boston but were helped by a lack of discipline from their opponents in one-on-one play.

If the Bucks would focus on making a Boston player take a contested shot every possession they would likely hold the Celtics scoring down considerably. Instead, gambling for a blocked shot or a steal enabled Boston to garner points it otherwise would probably not have gotten.

Pelicans 97, Trail Blazers 95

Portland knew that, despite playing as one of the top defenses in 2018, with elite-level rim protection, it was unlikely to be effective at slowing down Anthony Davis. 

Davis has reached that level of ability where he can produce huge and efficient scoring numbers even when limited to mostly tough shots. He just has too many ways that he can score effectively. So the hope is to limit his easy looks and make things hard on the other Pelicans players. 

But Jrue Holiday has emerged in 2018 as an outstanding secondary scorer, both when they had DeMarcus Cousins and after. Since January 3, he has scored 20 or more points 28 times, so his Game 1 performance (21 points) on Saturday in Portland was no aberration—despite going just 1 of 5 from behind the arc. 

The Trailblazers can’t let him just race to the rim, especially when Davis is not on the court. 

In these situations, Holiday should be the primary focus of the defense.