The regular season will be ending on the 10th of April with the playoffs starting on the 13th of April. There’s just 10 games more or less for every team left which means that many of the playoff spots have already been secured.
It’s been another great year in the NBA regular season. There’s been a new hype around many of the teams but especially the Eastern Conference. The Western conference offered up a chance of a new dominant team with LeBron going to the Lakers but that didn’t quite span out as the Lakers failed to make the playoffs. The Bucks have been a surprise package this season with them topping the conference and lead the Raptors by 4 games after they lost to the Hornets thanks to a Jeremy Lamb buzzer beater.
While many expected the Eastern Conference to be dominated by the Celtics that certainly hasn’t been the case. They have failed to find any consistency this season and have lost some crucial games. They came off back to back conference finals but have been a shadow of the team that reach those finals. The Celtics have yet to decide who they will be facing come play-offs. In the West there seems to be an exciting prospect of a Rockets vs Thunder matchup. This also means two old foes meet in Harden and Westbrook.
Probably the most surprising team of them all are the Clippers. They’ve claimed to be the best team in Los Angeles and are certainly proving that having already secured a playoff spot. They currently sit in 5th in the Western Conference but are closely followed by the Thunder and Jazz but could line up against the Blazers in the playoffs. They have no all-stars in their team but have still won 9 of their last 10 games. Another game that has the promise to be a classic is the Pacers vs Celtics and the battle between Irving and Oladipo. The Bucks could match up with the Magic which should be an easy game for them especially with MVP candidate Antetokounmpo.
The Sixers have also been boosted by the recent return of Embiid and now have an all-star five that could go all the way. To make things sweeter for them they could play the Nets, who on their day could put up a tough challenge but more often than not don’t put up a fight. Let’s not forget probably the strongest team in the NBA, the Warriors. They could potentially play the Spurs who haven’t looked great this season despite having gained DeRozan. The Warriors are of course the favourites to retain the championship and their regular season record says it all.
The 2019 NBA playoffs has all the promise of being an incredible one with so many in the NBA teams looking strong. With the way things are unfolding it’s anyone’s for the taking which makes for entertaining basketball.