Los play offs of the NBA are already here. 179 days after the season began, the playoffs begin to meet the next champion of the best basketball league in the world. The Milwaukee Bucks, current champions, and the Phoenix Suns, finalists of the last edition, start as favorites on their respective sides of the table, but they are not the only ones. The best eight teams in each conference play the season heads or tails to the best of seven games. Whoever wins advances to the next round. Whoever loses goes home. A vertiginous path to meet, in mid-June, the team that will lift the 2021/2022 NBA champion ring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qFuhoYIQz4
Teams ranked in the Western Conference
1. Phoenix Suns (64 wins – 18 losses).
The current finalists have been the best team in the Western Conference with a lot of difference over the rest. With a very choral game, they have in their ranks Devin Booker (26.8 points per game), DeAndre Ayton (10.2 rebounds per game) and Chris Paul, top assister in the championship (10.8 per game). In addition, players such as Mikal Bridges, who has not missed a game since arriving in the NBA, Cameron Johnson or Jae Crowder raise the level of competitiveness of those from Arizona, who are the top favorites to win the title, according to the houses of Vegas gambling.
2. Memphis Grizzlies (56-26).
Led by the energy of Ja Morant (27.4 points, 6.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game), the Tennessee team start as an unknown in the play offs, despite having shown a superlative game. With no knockout experience – they are the second youngest team in the league (24.1 years on average) – the group led by Taylor Jenkins will try to prove themselves beyond the regular season. The first stumbling block, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
3. Golden State Warriors (53-29).
The San Francisco franchise was about to lose third place in the last days of the regular season. The team that marked an era does not reach play offs in the best moment of the season, but the more than probable return of Stephen Curry for the first game of the qualifiers gives hope to the Californians. Full of young talent, and with Klay Thompson back after a serious injury, Steve Kerr’s men will seek to win the champion class against the Denver Nuggets in the first round. Further, it will be seen.
4. Dallas Mavericks (52-30).
In Dallas, everything revolves around Luka Doncic (28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game this season). The Slovenian’s injury has the NBA in suspense, as the Mavs’ hopes are greatly reduced without him. The Texan franchise has already confirmed that Doncic will not play in the first game of the series against Utah, but he could return for the second game, next Monday the 18th. The tie against Quin Snyder’s team seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Mavs to avenge the eliminations of the last two years in the first round against the Clippers. It is still unknown if Jason Kidd will be able to count on the ex-Madrid player for it.
5. Utah Jazz (48-33).
Immersed, one more year, in a somewhat strange team chemistry, the Jazz have smelled blood with Doncic’s injury. With Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell not speaking to each other, the franchise’s aspirations are to move the game from the regular season to the playoffs, its great pending task. Juancho Hernángomez is likely to get minutes during the qualifiers.
6. Denver Nuggets (48-33).
Everything indicates that Nikola Jokic will be chosen as MVP (most valued player, for its acronym in English) of the season for the second consecutive year. Beyond the Serbian: doubts. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr have not returned from their respective injuries and the Balkan center will have to put the team on his back, once again, if they want to have any chance. Facundo Campazzo barely counts for Michael Malone’s rotation.
7. Minnesota Timberwolves (46-36).
With a single presence in the play offs For the past 18 years, the Wolves seem to have hit the jackpot in 2022. The arrival of Patrick Beverley, coupled with the talents of Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, gets the franchise excited ahead of the series against the Memphis Grizzlies. Those of Chris Finch surpassed in the play in a Los Angeles Clippers (109-104).
8. New Orleans Pelicans (36-45).
The New Orleans Pelicans knocked out the Clippers in Los Angeles with a great comeback (101-105) and will be in the play offs fully deserved. Of course, the McCollum, Ingram, Valanciunas and company will have to face each other in the first round against the most feared franchise in the league at the moment: the Phoenix Suns. The Louisiana franchise, absent from the playoffs for the past four years, will have little chance of making it out of the first round. Willy Hernángomez, third center in the rotation for Willie Green, will have a hard time getting minutes in the series against the Suns.
Western Conference First Round
[1] Phoenix Suns – [8] New Orleans Pelicans.
Dates: April 17, 19, 22, 24, 26*, 28* and 30*.
[2] Memphis Grizzlies – [7] Minnesota Timberwolves.
Dates: April 16, 19, 21, 23, 26*, April 29* and May 1*.
[3] Golden State Warriors – [6] Denver Nuggets.
Dates: April 16, 18, 21, 24, 27*, April 29* and May 1*.
[4] Dallas Mavericks – [5] Utah Jazz.
Dates: April 16, 18, 21, 23, 25*, 28* and 30*.
Games that would be played if necessary and the series had not been decided before.
Ranked teams in the Eastern Conference
1. Miami Heat (53-29).
Those from Florida have been the most regular team of the year in the East with one of the most complete squads under the baton of Erik Spoelstra. Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro, the latter from the bench, are the main threats for the Heat, champions for the last time in 2013, still with LeBron James. In the first round, they will face either the Atlanta Hawks or the Cleveland Cavaliers.
2. Boston Celtics (51-31). After a very uneven start to the season, Ime Udoka’s board made click
starting in January and the Celtics have been one of the best teams in the league ever since. With a stellar Jayson Tatum (26.9 points, 8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game), the Massachusetts team will have to bring out their green pride against the Brooklyn Nets in the first round. One misstep could send them home at the drop of a hat.
3. Milwaukee Bucks (51-31).
The current champions lowered the piston in the regular season and, without apparent effort, have once again entered the top three teams in the Conference. With a supernatural Giannis Antetokounmpo (29.9 points, 11, 6 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game), Mike Budenholzer’s men have no other goal than to retain the title in June.
4. Philadelphia 76ers (51-31).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaSGmQXToS4
5. Toronto Raptors (48-34).
Without making much noise, the 2019 champions have been climbing positions in the final stretch of the regular phase until finishing in fifth position. The sensations are good and Pascal Siakam (22.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game) is at a high level, but Nick Nurse’s men do not start as favorites against Philadelphia.
6. Chicago Bulls (46-36).
After a brilliant start, the legendary Chicago franchise has deflated in the second half of the season. Led by DeRozan on offense, the Bulls have suffered significant injuries along the way: Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball, especially. Billy Donovan’s men have a disastrous record against the top three teams in each conference this season: 16 losses and no wins. In the first round, the reigning champions. Hard.
7. Brooklyn Nets (44-38). After a season full of doubts, the Nets have entrusted their year to theplay offs . After comfortably beating Cleveland in the play in
(115-108), Steve Nash’s men are a fearsome team despite the doubts in their game. It cannot be less than a team with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in their ranks. Ben Simmons, who has not yet made his debut, could have minutes in the series against Boston, the most attractive of the first round in the Eastern Conference.
8. Atlanta Hawks (43-39). After crushing the Charlotte Hornets in the first game of the play in
(132-103), Trae Young’s Hawks came back from the final game on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers (101-107) and will play the first round of the qualifiers against the East leaders, the Miami Heat. With the extent of Clint Capela’s injury yet to be known, the Hawks will rely on the offensive trances of star Trae Young and the outside threat of shooters like Kevin Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanović.
[1] Eastern Conference First Round Miami Heat [8] –Atlanta Hawks
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[2] Dates: April 18, 19, 22, 24, 26*, 28* and 30*. Boston Celtics [7] –Brooklyn Nets
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[3] Dates: April 17, 20, 23, 25, 27*, April 29* and May 1*. Milwaukee Bucks [6] –Chicago Bulls
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[4] Dates: April 17, 20, 22, 24, 27*, April 29* and May 1*. Philadelphia 76ers [5] –Toronto Raptors
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Dates: April 16, 18, 20, 23, 25*, 28* and 30*.
Games that would be played if necessary and the series had not been decided before.How to watch the NBA playoffs on TV
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