NBA Update
On Sunday, the NBA All-Star Game was played in the Bay Area. It was a game I decided not to watch because, as of recently, it has been pretty freaking boring, and apparently, once again, it met those low expectations. I don’t plan on discussing the All-Star Game because everything I would have to say has already been said by many others, thousands of times. However, I do plan on talking about the NBA as we have reached the halfway point. So, let me dive into this.
At the halfway point, these are the top three teams in both the Eastern and Western Conferences:
East
Cleveland Cavaliers
Boston Celtics
New York Knicks
West
Oklahoma City Thunder
Memphis Grizzlies
Denver Nuggets
The top three in the East have remained largely the same for the past two months. The Cavs still have an impressive lead over the Celtics, who have a decent lead over the Knicks. I think the Cavs have reached the point of consistent great basketball. They traded for De’Andre Hunter at the trade deadline, who is having a career year. This was a great move and will only make the Cavs better. Cleveland has been playing great basketball this season, so it is no surprise that they are where they are.
The Celtics are a case that is a bit more interesting. The defending champs were dealing with a pretty big shooting slump in January and early February. This was, and still is, a pretty big red flag for a team that relies heavily on three-point shooting. The Celtics did enter the All-Star break on a three-game winning streak, but that red flag is still going to show itself. Coach Joe Mazzulla thinks the best way to get his team out of a shooting slump is to shoot more threes, which is an idea that I think is stupid. The Celtics have a top-10 player in the league in Jayson Tatum. Tatum also happens to be one of the strongest players in the league. If the Celtics want to be great—if Jayson Tatum wants to be a megastar—he needs to attack the rim more, ESPECIALLY when the shots from beyond the arc aren’t falling. The Celtics are still an obvious contender for the NBA Finals, but if they play like they did in January, they definitely won’t be winning back-to-back championships.
The last team in the East’s top three is the New York Knicks. The Knicks are good, plain and simple. A starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns is incredibly deadly. You get high-level scoring from all players as well as incredible hustle. If I had to choose between the Knicks and the Celtics in a seven-game series, I’d take the Knicks. Both teams are highly skilled, but I just think the Knicks would outwork the Celtics. Jalen Brunson at the helm for New York is perfect. He is their captain and a top-five point guard in the NBA. Karl-Anthony Towns has played like an MVP-caliber player. The change and toughness he has shown in New York compared to Minnesota is outstanding. He is definitely a top-five, maybe even a top-three center in the league right now. Knicks fans have a lot to be excited about. I think the Knicks are true contenders this year and in the coming years. While I don’t think it will happen this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Knicks hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy this June.
Now, it’s time to discuss the West. The best team in the Western Conference is the best team in the league right now, and that team is the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder have been superb this season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an offensive juggernaut and, right now, the frontrunner for MVP (I personally don’t believe he should win the MVP, but I’ll get to that in a bit). The Thunder are also lucky to have the best young core in the league. General Manager Sam Presti is a genius for the rebuild he was able to pull off in Oklahoma. That man turned a past-his-prime Russell Westbrook and an MVP-caliber Paul George into players and draft picks that became Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, both Jalen and Jaylen Williams, as well as guys like Cam Whitmore, Alex Caruso, and Isaiah Hartenstein. Jesus. If you don’t understand what I just said, let me simplify it: All those players I just named are really good, and they all play really well together. The Thunder are deadly. They are title favorites. We are talking about a team that is 44-10. Despite all this, I do not think they will win it all.
Team #2 in the West is the Memphis Grizzlies. I gotta be honest—I don’t understand this at all. Their best player, Ja Morant, has played in 32 of the 54 games the Grizzlies have played this year. You could even argue that Ja isn’t the Grizzlies' best player anymore. His co-star, Jaren Jackson Jr., has played in 52 games and was selected to his second All-Star team this year. I haven’t been able to see many Grizzlies games this year (due to the NBA being dumb and me not wanting to buy League Pass), so I am shocked by how successful the Grizzlies have been. I would say they have a good roster, but definitely not one capable of being second in the Western Conference. As of right now, I am not buying into the idea that the Grizzlies are contenders. They definitely fit the pretender category just because I think there are better teams in the West. That being said, I will try to watch more Grizzlies games to see if they are as good as the standings say.
The final team in the West’s top three is the Denver Nuggets. The team that has the best basketball player in the world—Nikola Jokić—and a team that I think will be playing in the NBA Finals come June. Jokić is having an all-time season right now. We are currently witnessing one of the greatest primes in NBA history. Jokić has been the best player in the world for the past five seasons, and right now, he is averaging 29.8 points per game (3rd in the league), 12.6 assists (4th in the league), and 10.2 rebounds (2nd in the league). He also has a really good field goal percentage at 57.7%, and he is my pick for NBA MVP this year.
However, it isn’t just Jokić that makes the Nuggets so good. Point guard Jamal Murray has started to find some consistency in recent games, and veteran point guard Russell Westbrook has reignited his career in Denver coming off the bench. Now add the fact that the Nuggets have incredible depth thanks to guys like Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., and Peyton Watson, and it’s easy to see that the Nuggets are good. They are certainly better than the Memphis Grizzlies. I think the Nuggets will be the team from the West playing in the NBA Finals this June. They have the best player in the world, and they have the ability to be the best team in the league.
That is pretty much all I have to say about the NBA for now. I think fans should keep their eyes on teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, just because of the stars they have on their rosters. That being said, I think the team hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy this June will be one of the teams mentioned in this blog post.
