Soobum Im-US PRESSWIRE

The San Antonio looked like the best team in the league today. And they might really be just that.

The Spurs won Game 1 at home against the Utah Jazz 106-91 Sunday.

Tony Parker led the Spurs with 28 points and eight assists and looked like the MVP-candidate he became this season.

The Spurs are just so fun to watch and play such perfect basketball. Now, they have a great offense this year and their matchup against Utah is a good one since Utah has the worst defense among playoff teams.

Every single player knows their exact role for the Spurs and today they all executed seemingly perfect.

Tim Duncan had a nice throwback game with 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

Every possession has so much purpose for this team and unless Utah is going to play their very best basketball, the Spurs will win every game in this series.

They should be considered the favorite to win the NBA title right now. They won’t be though and that’s how they like it.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Andrew Bynum recorded a triple-double as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 103-88.

Bynum scored 10 points to go with 13 rebounds and 10 blocks. The size of the Lakers’ bigs was just too much for the Nuggets to handle today.

Denver was fine beating their defenders off the dribble but with Bynum and Pau Gasol waiting for them they could not capitalize. The Lakers had 15 blocks as a team and held Denver to 35.6 percent field goal shooting.

If Denver is ever able to dictate the pace and tempo of a game against the Lakers they can win but the Lakers’ style is closer to what we always see in the playoffs so don’t expect that to happen enough for the Nuggets to have a real shot.

The Lakers know their identity and while the Nuggets do too to an extent, they don’t have the same kind of talent to execute their game plan well enough.

Kobe Bryant scored 31 points and Gasol had 13 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.

Denver is overmatched in this series and the Lakers should easily move on but they are known for being kind of “out of it” now and then so the series may still go six.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City had the toughest time winning their first playoff game of the top three seeds in the West.

But the Thunder are matched up with the defending champion Dallas Mavericks who looked like just that last night.

Kevin Durant’s heroics have been the best part of the playoffs so far but hopefully for the Thunder, they will not need to rely on that to get by the Mavericks in this series.

Assuming Oklahoma City does advance, San Antonio still looks like by far their toughest potential matchup. The Spurs played great in the regular season against the Thunder and have been great overall of late and today.

The way that the Thunder turned up their defense in the fourth quarter tonight is a really good sign though. If Russell Westbrook can play the kind of defense he did last night on Jason Terry for the rest of the playoffs, then the Thunder are looking pretty good.

The Lakers’ weakness of giving up dribble penetration is not an issue against Denver but if they plan Oklahoma City in Round 2, the Thunder will be able to make Los Angeles pay.

The Thunder will play Game 2 at home against the Mavericks tomorrow night at 9:30 p.m. EST on TNT.

Head on over to Air Alamo and Lake Show Life for FanSided’s coverage on the Spurs and Lakers.

Kevin Durant made a fading 15-footer over two defenders with a second left on the clock to give the Oklahoma City Thunder the 99-98 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of their first round series.

Durant was just 10-for-27 in the game and scored 25 points to go with six rebounds, four assists and four blocks.

The Thunder trailed 94-87 with 2:31 left in the game following a Dirk Nowitzki jumper. Nowitzki would score 11 of Dallas’ final 13 points in the game but once Kendrick Perkins switched on to him after this jumper, he would only score two more points. Nowitzki finished the game with 25 points.

Durant was struggling mightily from the field but found other ways to affect the game. He made a great pass inside to Serge Ibaka for an and-one finish with 1:47 left in the game that cut the score to 94-92.

On the next possession with Perkins bodying up hard on Nowitzki, Harden helped and stripped the ball from Nowitzki for a steal. Harden then found Durant filling the lane for the dunk to tie the game at 94 with 1:27 left.

The Thunder played great defense the following possession but the ball bounced the Mavericks’ way at the end of the shot clock and Ian Mahinmi got fouled and made two free throws to put the Mavericks back on top by two.

Scott Brooks called timeout with 1:02 left and the Thunder went to one of their best sets that they’ve run all year. Durant got into the paint and found Ibaka again for an and-one finish.

Nowitzki would finally get the best of Perkins on an up-and-under on the next possession but there was enough time left after Nowitzki’s free throws for Durant’s final heroics.

Durant was the MVP of the final minutes but it was a huge team effort for the Thunder to come back in this one.

They didn’t have enough defensive intensity in the first half and Russell Westbrook carried the offense and finished the game with 28 points and five assists.

Most importantly on Westbrook’s part was his defense on Jason Terry down the stretch. Terry had scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the game but did not score in the fourth quarter with Westbrook on him.

Ibaka was also great scoring 22 points in the game to go with six rebounds and five blocks and of course the clutch free throws and finishes down the stretch.

Things didn’t look good for the Thunder early in the fourth quarter. They were playing small with Durant at the four and they couldn’t protect the paint that way.

Harden helped lead the comeback too making seemingly every smart play including a few steals. He would finish with 19 points on just seven shots.

The Thunder showed in this game how they could let the Mavericks beat them and how they could beat the Mavericks. Perkins matched up with Nowitzki seems much better than Ibaka covering him and Westbrook did a fantastic job on Terry.

Dallas shot five more free throws than Oklahoma City in the game with Durant only shooting five and Westbrook just one.

Game 2 will be played Monday night at 9:30 p.m. EST.