NBA Playoffs 2023 (Sweet 16)
With a full 82 Games NBA season now over and the NBA Play-In Tournament successfully completed, we are now officially ready to proceed with the NBA Playoffs 2023.
This year the Milwaukee Bucks (58-24) have reclaimed the “King of The Court” and No. 1 Seed in the entire league while battling it out with key members of their squad missing quite a few games but nonetheless were still able prevail throughout a very competitive season. The Bucks are getting it together at the right time and are driven to reach the mountain top once again.
That being said the No. 2 Seeded Boston Celtics (57-25) marginally fell short of the No. 1 Spot but maintained a very strong dominance throughout the league pinning any opponent to be in deep water when coming face to face with the surging Celtics come Playoff time. They showed up this year now it’s time to complete the run to the NBA Finals.
The Philadelphia 76ers (54-28) hold the No. 3 Seed and have been looking quite motivated to silence the naysayers who have been questioning their direction. With Joel Embiid playing at an MVP level and James Harden running the show, the squad is now peaking at the right moment and hopefully on track to reaching the NBA Finals.
The Cleveland Cavaliers (51-31) hold the No. 4 Spot while surprisingly being quite competitive night in and night out proving to be a team to be taken seriously throughout this Playoff run. The Cavs have a bonafide star in Donovan Mitchell and a solid nucleus of players looking to follow his lead.
The New York Knicks No. 5 Seed (47-35), the Brooklyn Nets No. 6 Seed (45-37), the Atlanta Hawks No. 7 Seed (41-41) and the Miami Heat No.8 Seed (44-38) all fought extremely hard to have a spot in the Playoffs but will have an even greater time knocking out the higher seeded favourites off their block come “Game night”, resulting in a very intriguing first round of Playoff runs.
The stronghold of the Western Conference has dipped again this year with only two teams crossing over the 50-win column. The Denver Nuggets have secured their No. 1 Seed with a modest (53-29) record and seem to be getting their full squad fully operational at the right time if they plan on reaching the NBA Finals this year. Breathing down their necks are the youngins Memphis Grizzlies (51-31) No. 2 Seed determined to prove they belong at the top but that being said, actions speak louder than words. Them youngins have to show up big and make some serious waves this time around deep into the Playoffs
The Sacramento Kings (48-34) is the surprising No. 3 Seed looking to prove that this is not a fluke. This squad got here the hard way but this Playoff run will be the truth teller of how far they go throughout the Playoffs. The Phoenix Suns (45-37) hold the No. 4 Spot but had to climb from the bottom to get back into the game and with Kevin Durant joining the squad this team is looking more and more like they might have found the missing piece.
The Los Angeles Clippers (44-38) No. 5 Seed, the Defending Champions Golden State Warriors (44-38) No. 6 Seed, the Los Angeles Lakers (43-39) No. 7 Seed and the Minnesota Timberwolves (42-40) No. 8 Seed don’t have much separating them at this point other than the Championship pedigree that the Warriors and the Lakers have over the rest of the Western Conference Playoff teams. They are the two teams that could definitely shake up their Playoff standings after the first rounds of play come to completion.
This year, Playoff runs are interesting from top to bottom so tune in and witness the outcome starting this Saturday April 15, 2023.
Blaze