NBA Playoffs 2023: The Totally Mad West

The Western Conference NBA playoffs promise to be a particularly exciting and open affair. No team, not even top seed Denver, is considered absolutely unbeatable. Are the Lakers taking advantage of the moment?

The NBA season is heating up. 16 teams compete in the playoffs for the championship in the best basketball league in the world.

Especially with a view to the Western Conference, the postseason promises to be a very wild and open affair. Because behind every team in the west there are some question marks.

This also applies to the Denver Nuggets, which are among the favorites due to their status as a top seed, but are not considered as highly by many experts.

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However, the Nuggets have been working toward this moment for the past several years, building a healthy team led by two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon complete the deep Denver roster, which has the fifth-best offensive rating in the league.

Nevertheless, not only the numerous slips in the past two weeks of the regular season have raised doubts as to whether the team is really a great candidate for the title – and it wasn’t always because players were rested.

Defensively, the roster leaves a lot to be desired anyway, largely due to Porter Jr. But Jokic’s biggest weakness is still his defense, although he has already improved here.

Also, the runners-up Memphis Grizzlies and the Sacramento Kings, who are one spot behind, are not considered “real” finalists.

The Grizzlies have weakened themselves, among other things, through non-sporting escapades. The weapons scandal surrounding superstar Ja Morant and verbal skirmishes shook what was actually a constant sporting season.

Before the duel with the Lakers, a cheeky tone is struck again from the Grizzlies camp. Defensive specialist Dillon Brooks announced that he wanted to eliminate LeBron James with all his might.

It remains to be seen whether Memphis will succeed in this, especially since Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke are two centers unavailable due to injury, which could become a big problem in a duel with Lakers superstar Anthony Davis.

The Kings, who are in the playoffs for the first time since 2006, have impressed with their offensive spectacle, but need to get their weak defense under control as quickly as possible. At least in game one, the Kings were able to stand up to the Golden State Warriors and presented in the series.

Still, Sacramento can’t count on them scoring three points better than the Warriors every time or steph curry throwing the buzzer beater down. In the long run, the defense has to deliver, otherwise they will be brutally punished by GSW.

Meanwhile, the Warriors, with all their championship experience, could also become a serious title contender, especially if Andrew Wiggins does return in time.

The Canadian hasn’t played a game since the All-Star Break due to private reasons, but has been back with the team for a little over a week. Against the Kings, the forward was back on the team and clocked 17 minutes in 28 minutes.

His comeback increases the squad depth of last year’s champion, which was recently improved by the return of Gary Payton II.

In addition, the Warriors have a lot of experience, especially in the playoffs, with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr.

The expectations are dampened a little by the poor away record of 11:30, which is why the Warriors were in the middle in the West for a long time – but they still got the curve for the final sprint and even qualified directly for the playoffs.

Quite a few expect the stars to reduce the defensive weaknesses observed during the season to a minimum for the playoffs.

Finally, a strong argument for the Warriors is that they were only beaten in the playoffs by two teams during the Curry era: Cleveland with LeBron and Toronto with Kawhi Leonard – both East teams.

The Phoenix Suns, who ended the regular season in fourth place, could cause quite a stir in the West – with what is probably the nominally strongest team from the West, anything is possible.

Especially when Kevin Durant is on the field, because then the Suns are unbeaten in eight games. For the superstar, the franchise sacrificed some picks like the defensive three-point shooter Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson – but the bill has paid off so far.

Besides Durant, the Suns probably have the best quartet in the NBA with Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton.

However, the trade does not leave Phoenix particularly deep, which means that a lot depends on the health of the four star players, who have been injured several times this season.

Here lies the chance for the Clippers, the upcoming opponents of the Suns. In Kawhi Leonard they have a superstar in their ranks who has been getting better and better lately – but is also very injury-prone.

Bitter for the Clippers: It is still unclear when the second superstar Paul George can intervene again after his knee injury at the end of March. Either way, the Clippers need to improve their attacking consistency if they want to challenge the Suns’ defense.

And then there’s the Lakers, who finished the regular season in seventh place and only qualified for the playoffs after beating the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Although the team was not in top form for a long time during the regular season – among other things also shaken by a few failures – the result curve is now clearly pointing upwards.

The Lakers have the third-best wins and second-best defense in the final two months of the regular season. LeBron’s team also benefited a little from a relatively simple game plan, but the team also acted much better.

This is in large part due to the fact that the Lakers signed Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt before the trade deadline, at least partially resolving the problems of the less than ideal roster.

Along with LeBron and Anthony Davis, the Lakers boast a talented and deep roster that also includes Austin Reaves, Troy Brown Jr. and most notably Dennis Schröder.

The Germany international played a crucial role in the win against the Timberwolves and could also be an X-factor against the Grizzlies. Although the Lakers roster is still not perfect, it is now fully competitive, especially in the west.

Ultimately, all teams in the Western Conference are not considered absolute top favorites, with the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers coming from the east.

But it is precisely this uncertain starting situation that makes the playoffs particularly exciting and opens up the chance for all teams to reach the finals. And who knows, maybe a team there will even make the big hit.