A Jam Packed Sports Weekend

LeBron James had never lost a playoff opener in his NBA career. Until Sunday.

A very flat and uninspired Cleveland Cavaliers team met an Indiana Pacers squad that was the exact opposite. At the end? Pacers 98, Cavs 80, ending James’ streak of 21 consecutive victories in first-round games.

In the other Sunday playoff games, the Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks 113-107 in overtime, the Oklahoma City Thunder topped the Utah Jazz 116-108 behind Paul George’s 36 points and the Houston Rockets, with James Harden scoring 44, beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-101.

Saturday’s winners: Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers and the New Orleans Pelicans.

NHL: The Washington Capitals, the choking dogs of the playoffs nearly every year, will not relinquish that title. They led 2-0 and 3-1 and managed to lose in overtime (again) to the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 on Sunday. They dropped the first two games of this first-round series at home. … The Pittsburgh Penguins went up 2-1 on the Philadelphia Flyers with a 5-1 win.

MOTHER NATURE: Six MLB games were postponed due to rain, cold and snow. The New York Yankees-Detroit Tigers doubleheader was scuttled, and Los Angeles Angels rookie standout Shohei Ohtani’s third start will now be Tuesday after a temperature of 31 in Kansas City caused the postponement of the game against the Royals. The Minnesota Twins have had three consecutive home games postponed by rain for the first time in their nine years at Target Field. … NASCAR’s race at Bristol was also impacted by weather and the Food City 500 will be completed on Monday starting at 1 p.m. and televised by Fox.

ELSEWHERE: Satoshi Kodaira picked up his first win on the PGA Tour with a 24-foot putt on the third playoff hole at the RBC Heritage. Si Woo Kim was the runner-up. Kodaira trailed by six strokes going into the final round. … No. 1 Maryland defeated No. 7 Rutgers 11-10 in men’s college lacrosse after the Terrapins trailed 9-8 with less than five minutes to play. They took over first place in the Big Ten and also qualified for the league tournament.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman