As the regular season winds down for the National Basketball Association (NBA), there are numerous teams who have solidified themselves as contenders for the championship, while others are looking to play underdog. In the Eastern Conference, the story has been all about the Boston Celtics, who have held the top spot in the conference for over 3 months. They are headlined by all star duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who combine as the highest scoring duo in the league.
In the ESPN article, NBA stretch run reset: Where title contenders and playoff hopefuls stand right now, writer Tim Bontemps discuss what he thinks the NBA looks like right now and which players might have the biggest impact on their new teams throughout the rest of the season. He believes that the West is wide open for the taking due to the number of quality teams in the conference. Bontemps also thinks that the Milwaukee Bucks and the Celtics are on a collision course for the playoffs in the East, as they have separated themselves from the rest of the conference.
The Celtics dominance is being challenged by the Bucks as they have surpassed the Celtics and have won 17 of their last 18 games. Led by perennial MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo and All-star Jrue Holiday, the bucks are almost back to full strength after a number of key players were out due to injury.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets are teams to keep an eye on as they lurk back in 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively. The Nets are especially interesting to watch due to their activity at the trade deadline, which saw them trade two of the best players in the league: Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks and Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns. Junior Tyler Miller does not like the idea of Kevin Durant changing teams to form another superteam, again.
“The Suns were already a solid team,” Miller said. “With Durant now too, they are definitely a favorite to win the Finals.”
The Western Conference is a little more chaotic than the East, with the Denver Nuggets currently in first place. However, the lead has changed hands between 5 different teams so far this season. The Nuggets are finally healthy after getting star point guard Jamal Murray back earlier this season from an ACL tear and forward Michael Porter Jr. is returning from a back injury.
The Nuggets are challenged by the Memphis Grizzlies who are led by their electric superstar Ja Morant. The third place Sacramento Kings are led by point guard De’Aaron Fox and forward Domantas Sabonis who are trying to help snap the longest active postseason drought at 16 seasons.
A couple of teams to keep an eye on are the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who sit in 5th place at 34-32 mostly due to star Stephen Curry missing multiple months with injuries. The Los Angeles Lakers are in 9th with a 32-34 record. If they were to miss the playoffs, it would be the first time in Lebron James’ career that he missed the playoffs in back to back years. The Portland Trail Blazers are potentially a team to look out for and junior Cal Maar thinks they have what it takes to make some noise in the playoffs.
“They have Damian Lillard who is one of the best scorers in the league, and I feel that they have just been slept on this whole year,” Maar said.
With the playoffs beginning on April 15, it will be a very exciting final month-and-a-half of the season as players are still meshing with their new teams and many teams are making their playoff push.
