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With NBA teams playing their final regular season games on Easter Sunday we have a few teams who are fighting for better playoff positioning and even a playin spot. Let’s look at the official standings set for the play-in and official matchups for the playoffs. 

Eastern Conference 

Milwaukee Bucks vs 8th seed 

Boston Celtics vs 7th seed

Philadelphia 76ers vs Brooklyn Nets 

Cleveland Cavaliers vs New York Knicks

Western Conference 

Denver Nuggets vs 8th seed 

Memphis Grizzlies vs 7th seed

Sacramento Kings vs Los Angeles Clippers

Phoenix Suns vs Golden State Warriors

With less than one week left of the NBA regular season we are starting to see the standings shape up as the top teams are starting to pull away and the middle to bottom teams fight for one of the final playoff spots. Let’s go through my top three teams that are the scariest to go against in the first round.

        The scariest team to play against in the first round is the Phoenix Suns, with teams like the Lakers, Warriors and Clippers trying to avoid the fifth seed it’s making for a very scrunched up fifth through tenth seed in the Western Conference. With the Suns having the most star power out of all the NBA it’s no surprise that teams are tying to avoid them in the first round.

        The second scariest team is the Los Angeles Lakers, with the Lakers having a up and down regular season they are a much better team than what their record implies. With LeBron James coming off an injury he is now going to be fresh going into the playoffs and definitely reenergized. Anthony Davis is also playing his best basketball of the year as he has been playing at a MVP level most days. 

My third scariest team is the New York Knicks, this Knicks team is playing some of their best basketball of the year. This Knicks team is very young but has playoff experience, if they can play a team like the Cavaliers or the Brooklyn Nets they can definitely advance to the next round. With their stars of Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson both playing on an all star level this year, any team who faces them in the first round will have their hands full.

With less than one week left of the NBA regular season we are starting to see the standings shape up as the top teams are starting to pull away and the middle to bottom teams fight for one of the final playoff spots. Let’s go through my three most disappointing teams this season.

        With my most disappointing team this regular season I have the Atlanta Hawks, the Hawks coming into this season has unlimited potential as they traded for all star guard Dejonte Murray who is an all star level player and should have been a great fit next to superstar Trae Young. With this Hawks team not even having a secured playoff spot they have definitely underperformed this season.

        The Dallas Mavericks are my number two team as they have failed to make the play in the tournament, with the Mavericks having a good first half of the season the Kyrie Irving trade at the trade deadline. With this Mavericks team having a top ten player in Luka Doncic and a star player like Kyrie Irving beside him, Dallas should definitely be in the mix for a playoff spot.

Lastly the Portland Trail Blazers are my final underperforming team this year as they still have a top player in Damian Lillard, Lillard has a decent supporting cast around him in Anfernee Simons, Jerami Grant and other good supporting players. With this Trail Blazers team 33-46 on the season they have already shut down some of their star players and are tanking for a better draft pick.

With less than one week left of the NBA regular season we are starting to see the standings shape up as the top teams are starting to pull away and the middle to bottom teams fight for one of the final playoff spots. Let’s go through my final playoff predictions for the Eastern and Western Conferences.

Eastern Conference

1. Milwaukee Bucks 58-24
2. Boston Celtics 57-25 
3. Philadelphia 76ers 53-29
4. Cleveland Cavaliers 50-32
5. New York Knicks 47-35 
6. Miami Heat 44-38
7. Brooklyn Nets 44-38 
8. Chicago Bulls 41-41

Western Conference 

1. Denver Nuggets 54-28 
2. Memphis Grizzlies 51-31
3. Sacramento Kings 49-33
4. Phoenix Suns 46-36
5. Los Angeles Lakers 43-39
6. Golden State Warriors 42-40
7. New Orleans Pelicans 42-40
8. Minnesota Timberwolves 41-41

With the Dallas Mavericks well under .500 now and are currently sitting at 37-42 on the season it looks like the Mavericks are going to miss the playoffs entirely. When looking at the Mavericks just last season they looked like a good team and who were on the come up but with some key departures and trades this Dallas team has completely done a one eighty. 

        With Luka having yet another MVP level year the Mavericks are still not close to a top level team and they don’t have any young ascending talent for Dallas fans to look forward to, with the only valuable asset in the team being Luka Doncic what is there for Luka to want to stay in Dallas? With the Mavericks losing Jalen Brunson to the Knicks last year and trading away multiple players and picks for Kyrie Irving.

Before the Irving trade the Mavericks were the 4th seed in the west and after the trade the Mavericks are now the 11th seed. If the Mavericks can’t get support around Luka he should want out as the Mavericks have struggled to get a second star in Dallas even when superstar Dirk Nowitzki was playing in Dallas his whole career.

With the NBA regular season coming to an end we are starting to see the playoff brackets set in both the Eastern and Western Conferences. With the playoff brackets starting to shake out we have the top teams starting to pull further ahead of the middle and bottom tier teams, let’s go through my top three teams in the Eastern Conference and why. 

        The scariest team in the Eastern Conference is the Boston Celtics, with the roster depth Boston has they can match up with just about any team in the league. With the Celtics blowing out the Milwaukee Bucks earlier last week this Celtics team has shown many times that they can be the best team in the league when they are playing at their best. 

        The second best Eastern Conference team is the Milwaukee Bucks, with many fans and media members believing the Bucks are the best team. I don’t believe that, I believe the Bucks are a top team but not the best as the Celtics have shown time and time again that they can beat the Bucks. Even though Milwaukee had the best player in the league they have holes throughout the roster.

With the third best Eastern conference team is the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers have the championship ceiling but with thier star players in James Harden and Joel Embiid having playoff implications over their careers these two superstars have to show that they can step up when the lights shine brightest, until then they are my third best team in the Eastern Conference.

As we are heading into the final handful of games for the regular season we finally have good knowledge of what teams trade deadline moves have been worth their while and for other teams what trades have been a disaster. Let’s go through my three best and worst trades. 

        With the worst trade by far is the Kyrie Irving trade to the Dallas Mavericks, the Mavericks gave up Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finny-Smith a 2029 first round pick and two second round picks in exchange for Kyrie Irving and Markieff Morris. Since this trade the Mavericks have been under .500 and close to missing the playoffs completely.

        One of the best trades is the Russell Westbrook trade to bring in D’Angelo Russell, this trade has made the Lakers since the trade deadline and with new faces on this fresh new Lakers team it’s made them go from a fringe playoff contender to a championship team in the matter of a few smart moves.

Another great trade is the Brooklyn Nets trading Kevin Durant for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson and four first round picks. Now this seems like a bad deal for the Nets but with Mikal Bridges getting more minutes on this Brooklyn team he’s turned into a two way star this far, and with the Suns picks ranging from 2023 to 2029 these picks could be top eight picks in just a couple years.

With the NBA regular season winding down the playoff picture for both conferences are starting to shape up as the top teams are pulling away and the majority of teams are still fighting for the last couple playoff spots. Let’s go through my top three teams that nobody in the playoffs wants to face.

        The Milwaukee Bucks are my first team as many believe the Bucks are the best overall team in the league as they have arguably the best player in Giannis Antetokounmpo and other great players like all star Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis, Kris Middleton and others. With the Bucks having the best record in the league they are going to be a nightmare for any team in the league to play.

        My second scariest team is the Los Angeles Lakers and this comes with a caveat, if the Lakers can stay healthy which is a big ask they can beat just about any team in the league as they are the only team with two top ten players in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers are beefed up their roster at the trade deadline by making smart moves that fit around LeBron and AD, this team has arguably the highest ceiling as they can either be a one and done or a championship team in June.

Lastly I have the Phoenix Suns, the suns are like the Lakers as they have a very high ceiling but staying healthy is going to be a big ask as they have some injury prone players in Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. This suns team has a very high ceiling but with how the roster is constructed they don’t have a lot of perimeter defense and are very top heavy which relies more on their star players.

As we wrap up the NBA regular season during the last couple weeks we are starting to see a trend in teams that are looking to make a strong playoff push and teams that are crumbling before our eyes. Let’s go through the top three teams in the western conference and who have the best chance to make it to the NBA finals.

       The Denver Nuggets has been the best western conference team throughout the year and the most consistent, with the Nuggets having the two time MVP and possibly  another MVP this year. With the Nuggets having the one the the best and deepest rosters they have a very good chance going into these playoffs in April.

        The second best team in the western conference in my opinion is the Sacramento Kings who have been playing like a top five team in the NBA as a whole. The Kings are arguably the best offensive team but lack defense on all three levels. This Kings team may be young and inexperienced in the playoffs but looking at the other teams in the western conference it may not be a issue.

The Los Angeles Lakers may be limping into the playoffs but one of the biggest threats to any team in the NBA but with injuries holding this team back, this may be what the Lakers need is to have their players fresh coming off injuries but with Los Angeles having the best duo in the NBA with LeBron James and Anthony Davis this Lakers team is arguably the most top heavy team in the NBA.

Are the Memphis Grizzlies on a downward spiral? With some of their key players missing games and the rest of the season is this the team that falls apart halfway through the year? Every year we have an NBA team that looks good during the first half of the season and after the all star break they always seem to just fall apart and I’m making the case that this year’s fall apart team is the Memphis Grizzlies. 

        With the news of superstar point guard Ja Morant missing multiple games due to his off the court antics, forward Brandon Clarke missing the rest of the season with an Achilles injury and now Dillion Brooks missing a game due to reaching his sixteenth technical foul. This Grizzlies team has a lot to work on these next few weeks before the NBA playoffs.

        The Memphis Grizzlies are currently sitting at the number two seed in the western conference, they have a nice cushion if they do lose a few games in the coming weeks due to a lack of star power.

The Grizzlies are currently 38-24 in which is a very respectable record in the NBA as not very many teams would want to matchup with the Grizzlies but with the Golden State Warriors beating them in the second round of the playoffs last year and other teams showing the league that Memphis is very beatable this set of news could completely wipe out the great season the Grizzlies we’re having thus far.