"Burnt”: Lebron James said it best in describing himself after narrowly pulling out a 105-101 win against the young Indiana Pacers led by Victor Oladipo in Game 7. But, he wasn’t the only one expelling unnatural amounts of energy in what was only the first round of the long NBA postseason. So much basketball played within a two week span including only one 4 game sweep ( New Orleans Pelicans beat Portland Trailblazers; 4-0), three 5 game knockouts (Philadelphia 76ers beat Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors beat San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets beat Minnesota Timberwolves; 4-1), two 6 game nail biters (Toronto Raptors beat Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz beat Oklahoma City Thunder; 4-2) and two 7 game thrillers (Cleveland Cavaliers beat Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics beat Milwaukee Bucks; 4-3). And that’s only the beginning. With Round 2 already in full effect with the Warriors, Rockets and Celtics all winning their first game in the next round, the pressure only rises. But questions still remain like, what does all of this mean for the teams who are out? And even more importantly, what lies for those still in the tournament?

Well first it means that anointed young stars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl Anthony Towns and Damian Lillard who couldn’t get their team over the hump are going to be right back at the drawing board trying to figure what wrong, while others such as Ben Simmons, Joel Embid, Terry Rozier, Jalen Brown and Donovan Mitchell used Round 1 to showcase their immense talent and lift their teams to the next round despite the lack of deep playoff experience. This was supposed to be the year where Giannis really took off and he was set up for the perfect opportunity to steal a series victory against a star depleted Celtics team who has missed Gordon Hayward for all but seven minutes of the season, Kyrie Irving who was their leading scorer and primary ball handler and Marcus Smart, their best perimeter defender, for the first four games of the series. But despite the series being served up on a silver platter, Giannis failed to reach 25 points three times when his season average was almost 27 a game and came up small in big moments down the stretch. In regards to Towns and Lillard, they just didn’t play up to what their teams needed them to in series where their opposing match up (Clint Capela for the Rockets and Jrue Holiday for the Pelicans) simply outplayed them. Both took huge steps backs as their points, field goal percentage and 3-pt percentage all fell when the lights got brightest and the competition made them pay for the lack of production.

Second, is that the future of Paul George is officially in question now that despite adding he and Carmelo Anthony’s services, the Russell Westbrook led Thunder won the same amount of games and got bounced out of the 1st round just like last year. Are the 76ers a possible landing spot? The Lakers? Maybe the Pelicans? Definitely, a huge narrative to start with when we reach the off-season in what may be one of the most active free agent markets in NBA history. With all the talk about Kawhi Leonard possibly wanting out of San Antonio, Lebron James being on the market at the end of the season and Chris Paul being back on the market after this one year with the Rockets, this will almost definitely be a summer to remember.

And then there’s the story of the Lebron led Cavs, who needed an almost superhuman set of performances from him in order to pull out a series in which going in they were heavily favored. According to NBA.com it took James averaging 34.4 points, 10 rebounds and 7.7 assists over the course of a series in which he clearly was the best player on the court, but was subjected to poor play by his supporting cast in which none of his teammates averaged more than 12 points over the course of seven games. As remarkable as that sounds, that word “burnt” floats around and some wonder, “Is Lebron going to run out of gas against the Raptors?” Although he’s dominated them in the past, this is not the same Toronto team. They’re deeper, more experienced and from a roster standpoint, they are built to defend Lebron James through their ability to send flurries of bodies at him to defend the rim. So much still left to see, but that’s the beauty of the playoffs.