5 surprises from the first weekend of the NBA playoffs

1. The Pelicans stole home-court advantage from Portland

While the first-round series between the Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Pelicans figured to be close, most experts ultimately sided with the Blazers to move on. The Pelicans didn’t take kindly to that.

Fueled by a 35-point, 14-rebound night from Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday’s gritty defense, New Orleans stole home-court advantage away from the Trail Blazers with a 97-95 Game 1 victory in the nightcap Saturday.

While a monster game from Davis didn’t come as a surprise — after all, he averaged 30.2 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game after DeMarcus Cousins went down with a torn Achilles toward the end of January—the complementary contributions from Holiday (21 points, seven rebounds), Rajon Rondo (six points, eight rebounds, 17 assists) and Nikola Mirotic (16 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks) sure did. Prior to Saturday, Mirotic had only four career games with four or more blocks, while Rondo had only four games with 17 or more assists this season.

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Holiday, meanwhile, helped limit star Trail Blazers guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum to 13-of-41 shooting. And with the Pelicans clinging to a three-point lead with less than 10 seconds remaining, Holiday did his best Randy Orton impression to come flying out of nowhere and swat a Pat Connaughton layup attempt off the glass.

“I was hyped, as you can see,” Holiday told reporters afterward in reference to his game-clinching block. “I take pride in my defense. Especially guarding all these great guards. That’s why we play the game. It’s fun, but it’s tough and it’s hard. To be able to get a win on the road is a great feeling.”

If Holiday, Rondo and E’Twaun Moore continue stifling Lillard and McCollum, the Blazers will be in trouble unless they get more production from their supporting cast moving forward.