The Playoffs Begin: the Good and the Bad of the 2022-2023 NBA Regular Season

The NBA has entered its most important stage, in which the great teams will fight in the playoffs to win a place in the grand final of this sports competition. In the 2022-2023 regular season, we saw outstanding performances, which fueled the level of competition in the best basketball league in the world.

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In addition to seeing a high level of competition in this regular season, NBA fans have seen some big surprises during this first stage of the tournament. Outstanding teams were eliminated, an aspect that generated unexpected movements for the 2023-2024 campaign.

The Big Contenders

Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets have remained as conference leaders. This makes them the clear candidates to reach the finals this season. However, teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, Philadelphia 76ers and Golden State Warriors will look to defeat them in the playoffs, with the intention of earning a berth in the finals this season.

The Return to Playoffs

The Sacramento Kings and New York Knicks have returned to the playoffs after many unsuccessful seasons. The Sacramento team broke a 16-year streak without reaching this stage of the tournament, so their fans are happy and excited about the outstanding performances that their team has been making for several months.

For its part, the most important team in New York made it clear throughout the regular season that it will be competing in the best way in these playoffs, with the intention of continuing to strengthen its young team. Likewise, it should be mentioned that the pieces that arrived for this new campaign were essential for the Knicks to return to dispute these final keys.

The Ultimate Disappointment

The Dallas Mavericks are considered the disappointing team of the season. Those led by the Slovenian Luka Dončić were eliminated from the first round of the championship, an aspect that left their fans quite disappointed and disillusioned. In addition to this, it should be mentioned that this team did not even reach the Play-in, so this is one of their worst campaigns in recent years.

Despite having one of the great stars of the future such as Luka Dončić and a great veteran and NBA star such as Kyrie Irving, this team disappointed with their poor performances in the final phase of the tournament. In his last commitments of the regular season, the constant injuries, the bad decisions of his coach and the little effectiveness in the key moments were fundamental for this failure in the campaign to occur.

The Dallas squad was ranked number eleven in the Western conference, with a general record of 38 wins and 44 losses. They are some unthinkable statistics for one of the teams that had been named as a championship contender this season.

In Search of Wembanyama

The worst teams in the 2022-2023 regular season were the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets, teams that struggled throughout the season. Despite having great promise in their rosters, the renewal work does not seem to be bearing fruit yet, so these squads were left with the last slots in both conferences.

However, despite experiencing one of their worst moments as franchises, their fans are excited about what the 2023-2024 season can be, since these teams are the great favorites to stay with the future French star Victor Wembanyama. This 19-year-old basketball player has been giving a lot to talk about for several months, so experts confirm that this young promise will be chosen in the first position of the next Draft. These four teams could keep one of the most promising talents for the following seasons or, if they wish, they can make a trade for an already established star of the league.

Crucial Weeks

With the playoffs approaching and the end of the season beginning, many big moves are expected to take place in the NBA these next few weeks. These will have a consequence for the next draft and at the beginning of the 2023-2024 campaign.