All of the Game 1’s in this year’s NBA Playoffs were close games and all brought a different level of excitement, but this series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns may be the most intriguing first-round matchup this year. 

Not only are the Lakers the defending champions led by LeBron James, but the Phoenix Suns are having one of their best years in franchise history and have their own championship aspirations. This is going to be a hard fought series that has the potential to go the distance, but the Suns have made the early statement in this series by taking down the Lakers 99-90 in Game 1. 

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This was a battle from the opening tip to the final buzzer as bodies were hitting the floor throughout the game and there are some injury concerns moving forward. Chris Paul was in and out of the game after suffering an apparent right shoulder injury in the first-half. 

Paul claims he is fine and is not going to miss any time, but you could tell that he was struggling with this shoulder throughout the whole second-half of this game in Phoenix. His shoulder and potential injury is something to monitor throughout the rest of this series. 

Game 1 was claimed by Phoenix in a big way and now, they will have to backup this victory with another win Tuesday night against Los Angeles. If the Suns can go up 2-0 on the Lakers, they will be in the driver’s seat for this series, but if they drop Game 2, then all momentum will be in the hands of the Lakers heading back to Los Angeles for two games. 

So what can both teams learn from their Game 1 performances? Let’s take a look at the three biggest takeaways from Lakers-Suns Game 1.