This year’s NBA playoffs have been off to an entertaining start as many of the first-round and play-in tournament games have delivered thrilling moments to talk about. Despite a grueling 82 game regular season, the last two seeds of the NBA playoff picture come down to either one or two play-in games depending on regular season record. The Minnesota Timberwolves and New Orleans Pelicans from the Western Conference and Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks prevailed to earn seven and eight seeds in the playoffs respectively. Shockingly, both the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers did not make the playoffs for the first time in five years, making the 2021-22 playoff cycle particularly interesting to follow without these two NBA blue bloods.
Regarding St. Lawrence sports fans, the Boston Celtics vs Brooklyn Nets series is the most important series as many students on campus are either from Boston/Massachusetts or Brooklyn/New York. Boston swept Brooklyn 4-0, which is representative of their play since late January as one of the hottest teams in the NBA. This was a great series because each Boston victory came within seven points of the Nets demonstrating four highly contested games despite four Boston wins. The chemistry between stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown within a deep Celtics roster has proven to be superior to the top-5 talent of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Three other close series in the first round include the Dallas Mavericks vs the Utah Jazz, the Memphis Grizzlies vs Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoneix Suns vs the New Orleans Pelicans. For the Mavericks, Luka Doncic has dealt with a calf strain but returned in game four to score 30 points and then 33 in game five in a 102-77 rout and 3-2 series lead of the Jazz. My personal favorite series to watch so far has been the T-Wolves vs Grizzlies series as two young budding stars in Anthony Edwards and Ja Morant have displayed their incredible playmaking and athletic ability. The most surprising result so far in the playoffs is the overall #1 record Phoenix Suns being tied with the New Orleans Pelicans who finished the regular season with a 36-46 record.
The Golden State Warriors have seemed to find a third, and younger, splash brother in Jordan Poole who is making them a serious contender once again in 2022. The Warriors are in control of their series vs the Denver Nuggets because of the shooting expertise from Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Poole, making them my favorite to win the NBA championship once again.
Other series in the Eastern conference include the Toronto Raptors vs Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks vs Miami Heat. Both the higher seeded teams are controlling their series as Jimmy Butler of the Heat and Joel Embiid of the 76ers are continuing their elite regular season play into the playoffs.
After the type of action we have already seen in the play-in and round one, I can’t wait to see what round two and the rest have to offer for eager basketball fans around the world.