As we take a quick look in the playoffs, the Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, and Miami Heat have all made it to the second round of the playoffs. This past week has been very hectic in the NBA. Stephen Curry was injured in the first round against the Houston Rockets after slipping on a wet spot and spraining his MCL. Even with Curry injured, the Warriors still managed to win the series without him. In the second round, the Warriors are facing the Trail Blazers. With Curry still out, the Warriors have won the first two games in the series to gain a 2-0 lead. At this point, the Warriors do not want Curry to return for game 3 for precautionary reasons. Another huge surprise and disappointment were the injuries of both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin from the Los Angeles Clippers. The injuries proved to be too much for the Clippers as they lost a 2-0 lead to the Trail Blazers to eventually lose the series 4-2. Fortunately for the Warriors, Stephen Curry is expected to return soon.

Oklahoma just bounced back recently with a win against the San Antonio Spurs (98-97), evening the series 1-1 after losing game 1 with a score of 124-92. Considering the fact that game 2 had one of the bizarrest endings to a game, there were a few uncalled fouls during the last few seconds of the game. Kawhi Leonard and Patty Mills should have been called for fouls, Serge Ibaka and LaMarcus Aldridge got tangled up, and Dion Waiters elbowed Manu Ginobli while out-of-bounds. The referees didn’t review the play because it was already too late. As the rules are now, referees are only allowed to review clear path fouls, out of bounds plays, or whether or not the ball was shot on time (espn.go.com).

On the other hand, Byron Scott was just fired a little over a week ago and the L.A. Lakers have just acquired head coach Luke Walton. Luke Walton had an amazing first few months with the Warriors as he led the team 39-4, only as an interim coach. He did an amazing job as the substitute coach while Kerr was out. “I have always dreamed of being a head coach and the chance to do that for an organization like the Lakers doesn’t come around very often,” says Luke Walton on espn.go.com. Luke Walton played for the Lakers and even won two championships with the team in 2009 and 2010. Unfortunately for Byron Scott, he is now out of a job and claims the organization lied to him about his status with the team for next season. Although the Lakers went through a huge slump these past few seasons, who knows how far Luke Walton can bring the Lakers to wins this coming season?

Playoff basketball is always unpredictable. Teams have a different mindset that they play with. Coaches have different approaches to the game plan. Players rev up their intensity and aggressiveness. Maybe that’s why these injuries are happening. The only thing that is for sure is the fact that playoff basketball sets up a lot of surprises and amazing matchups. As for the teams, everyone is chasing 16 wins in one best of 7 series at a time.