It’s time for the truth. The NBA closed the regular season this Sunday and the life or death confrontations begin. Among those who are playing everything on one card are two of the most successful teams in the NBA: the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Francisco Golden State Warriors. Both will be played starting this Tuesday in the playoff for the possibility of qualifying for the playoffs that begin on Saturday, April 20. At the end of the initial phase of the league, the Boston Celtics have been clear dominators (with 64 wins and 18 losses). They are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs. In the West, a failure by the Denver Nuggets in the penultimate game allowed the Oklahoma City Thunder to finish first.
The league’s regular season has been so contested that, with two days left, the only ones who knew where they qualified for the playoffs were the Celtics, in the Eastern Conference. The rest of the positions in the two groups have danced until this Sunday, when the last games have been played.
The Lakers and the Warriors have so far avoided a direct confrontation in the Western Conference playoff, so both could end up entering the playoffs. With their victory over the Pelicans at home in the last game (108-124), the Lakers finish the regular phase as eighth in the Western Conference and will face the New Orleans team (seventh). Those who win in this new duel, scheduled for Tuesday, will play the first round of the best-of-seven playoffs against last year’s champions, the Denver Nuggets, who finished second in the West.
The loser of the game between the Lakers and the Pelicans will still have the opportunity to enter as the eighth seed if they beat the winner of the duel between the Sacramento Kings (9th) and the Golden State Warriors (10th). The neighboring California teams already met last year in the postseason, but this time they do so in a dramatic single game and then having to win the second game of the play in to qualify. Whoever achieves that eighth place will face the Oklahoma City Thunder, surprising leaders of the Western Conference at the close of the regular season. This Sunday they sealed first place with an overwhelming victory (135-86) against the Dallas Mavericks, who rested their best players, including Luka Dončić.
The other two western crossings have already been defined. The Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the revelations of the league, third in the Conference, face the Phoenix Suns, sixth in the Conference, with home field advantage. For their part, the Los Angeles Clippers (4th) will have the Dallas Mavericks (5th) as rivals.
The Celtics, intractable
Those who were already assured of being first in the Eastern Conference and the best in the entire league were the Celtics, who did their homework ahead of time. The team of Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Al Horford has added versatile Latvian center Kristaps Porziņģis and defensive strongman Jrue Holiday. They have functioned as a group. They attack and defend well, they have a good starting five and bench depth. With their position in the regular league they have a home field advantage until a hypothetical final. They haven’t won the title since 2008 and they believe their time has come.
The Celtics, of course, still don’t know the path that awaits them. As first in the East, they must wait for the play in of that Conference. The Philadelphia 76ers will host the Miami Heat on Tuesday to see who is the seventh seed. The loser of those two will face off for eighth place in the East playoffs against the winner of the game between the Chicago Bulls (9th) and the Atlanta Hawks (10th). With the return of Joel Embiid after his injury, Philadelphia is a fearsome team. And Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat Playoff one can never trust when the postseason arrives.
The New York Knicks managed to close the season as the second best team in the East in overtime of their game this Sunday, overtaking the Milwaukee Bucks, who fell on a final day in which they reserved their star, Giannis Antetokounmpo, somewhat affected. Thus, the Knicks will face the winner of the play in between the 76ers and the Heat in the first round.
The Bucks, meanwhile, will face the Indiana Pacers, with game seven in Milwaukee if necessary. The fourth meeting in the East pits the Cavaliers against the Orlando Magic, with home field advantage for the Cleveland team.
The best of the year
Once the regular phase of the league is over, bets are placed on individual awards, especially best player (MVP) and rookie of the year (ROTY). In which the bets agree that the award for the best player will go to a foreigner. The favorites are the Serbian Nikola Jokić, the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Slovenian Luka Dončić.
The rookie of the year award seems assured for Victor Wembanyama, even though his team was second to last in the Western Conference. The Frenchman has put on a show like few others, he has generated enormous expectations and has a bright future ahead of him. He said goodbye to the season with a spectacular game against the Denver Nuggets. The stratospheric triples that he chained together and the block against the backboard that he put against Jokić in the decisive phase of the match should be the signature for the personal award.
Wembanyama has, on the other hand, been the best blocker in the league, with an average of 3.6 blocks per game. The top scorer has been Dončić, with his 33.9 points per game, ahead of Antetokounmpo (30.4) and Gilgeous-Alexander (30.3). Domantas Sabonis has prevailed on the boards with 13.7 rebounds per game, while Tyrese Haliburton (10.9), Dončić (9.8) and Jokić (9.0) have shone in the game. Stephen Curry expands his legend as the best three-point shooter in history with 357 more three-pointers this season, ahead of Donte DiVincenzo and Luka Dončić.
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2024-04-14 22:18:39
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