The conference semifinals opened with a Game 1 split that already tells us something. The Knicks beat the 76ers by 39 at Madison Square Garden, the Timberwolves stole one in San Antonio by two, and the two Western series that tip Tuesday night both arrive with home-court questions worth chewing on.

The bracket is wide. Each of the four series has a different defensive shape, a different pace profile, and a different way of getting unstuck when the first option breaks down. Below is the matchup-by-matchup read, with the dates rendered in US local time, the home team named correctly, and at least three different box-score angles per series so you are not stuck reading the same stat twice.

Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks, Game 1 final: Knicks 137, 76ers 98

The number that explains this game is 51. New York shot 19 for 37 from three on Monday night at the Garden, a 51 percent clip on a high-volume night, and Philadelphia never had a chance to close the gap. The 76ers were not far off on their own three-point line, 11 of 30 for 37 percent, but the volume gap, seven extra makes and seven extra attempts, is the entire margin and then some.

The Knicks won every other column too. They turned 34 assists into 39 rebounds, against a 76ers night that finished with 15 assists on 19 turnovers, an assist-to-turnover ratio under one that you almost never see from a playoff team in May. Philadelphia's only column wins were free-throw percentage, 79 to 71, and that is a column that does not survive contact with a 39-point margin.

Game 2 is back at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday May 6 before the series flips to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday. The question for the 76ers is not whether they can win in New York, it is whether they can stop trading two-point looks for three-point ones at a 7-make deficit per 36 minutes.

Minnesota Timberwolves at San Antonio Spurs, Game 1 final: Timberwolves 104, Spurs 102

The lever in this game was the offensive glass and the rim protection. San Antonio out-rebounded Minnesota 47 to 46, swatted 14 shots to the Timberwolves' five, and still lost by two. That is the hardest kind of one-possession loss for a coaching staff to absorb, because nothing structural broke. The Spurs lost on the margins of percentage shooting: 28 percent from three on 36 attempts, against Minnesota's 39 percent on 26 attempts, with both teams making exactly 10. Volume on the wrong side of the efficiency curve, by a margin of seven extra empty trips, is most of the result.

The other quiet column is steals. Minnesota came up with seven, San Antonio with four, and Minnesota turned a one-possession lead in the final two minutes into the win on the back of a deflection and a transition look. Anthony Edwards getting downhill against switches still works. Victor Wembanyama's 14 blocks were the headline, but five of them came on shots that the Timberwolves had already gotten a second crack at.

Game 2 is in San Antonio Wednesday, then the series moves to Minneapolis for Game 3 Friday and Game 4 Sunday. The Spurs need a clean three-point night, not a clever one. They will get to 35 attempts again. They have to make 13 of them.

Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons, Game 1, Tuesday May 5

Detroit holds home court and tips Game 1 in front of its own building. That is the line worth stating clearly, because the easy mistake is to assume the higher seed is always at home, and the Pistons earned this top-half draw with a closing run that the Cavaliers' coaching staff studied through the first round. Detroit's defensive rebounding margin in the regular season was a top-six number, and it is the cleanest reason to believe the home side can take Game 1 even if the shot-making goes Cleveland's way.

The Cavaliers will run more secondary actions than any team Detroit has faced this spring. Cleveland's assist rate has been a top-five number in the playoffs, and the read for Detroit is whether its perimeter defenders can stay attached on the second cut after the first action gets blown up. The Cavaliers need a steal-rate spike to win on the road, and that is the angle to watch in the first 18 minutes.

Game 2 is back in Detroit on Thursday May 7, with the series flipping to Cleveland for Game 3 on Saturday. Detroit losing Game 1 at home would be the closest thing this round has to a series-bending result.

Los Angeles Lakers at Oklahoma City Thunder, Game 1, Tuesday May 5

The Thunder host, the Lakers travel, and the regular-season meetings between these two clubs do not give us a usable baseline this cycle. That makes Tuesday a closer-to-blank-slate Game 1 than most. The angle is the turnover line. Oklahoma City has been the league's best at converting opponent giveaways into immediate points all season, and the Lakers have spent the playoffs alternating between high-care half-court possessions and stretches of careless ones. If LA finishes Game 1 with 13 turnovers or fewer, they have a chance to steal the first one. If they finish with 17, they will be down 0-1 by 12.

The other column to watch is free-throw differential. The Thunder's defensive shape produces a lot of contested twos and very few foul calls in the open floor, which means the Lakers will need their own foul line to be a real source of points rather than a backup option. A 25-attempt night at the line for Los Angeles changes the math of this series.

Game 2 is at Oklahoma City on Thursday, with the series moving to LA for Game 3 Saturday. The interesting tactical question is how the Lakers handle Oklahoma City's secondary actions when the first action gets blown up. That has been the Thunder's most consistent halfcourt asset across the playoffs.

What to watch league-wide

All four series are in Game 3 by Saturday, which is a compressed turnaround that punishes coaching staffs slow to adjust. The Knicks lead the East as the only Game 1 winner with a margin of 39 points, but margin in Game 1 has historically been a poor predictor of a series outcome past Game 3. Watch the bench rotations more than the box scores, and watch the late-clock defensive coverage in the closing minutes of close games. Three of these four series will be decided inside the final two minutes of Game 3 or Game 4.

For the full slate, see the NBA this week page. Live scores update every 30 seconds at /live.