In the recently expanded NBA playoffs, 16 teams entered the tournament and 8 currently remain. Many analysts and fans alike have celebrated the parity of this year’s tournament as only the Phoenix Suns have truly separated themselves from every other team both in the regular season and in the playoffs in terms of a win-loss record. Bracket seeds were often only separated by three games or fewer.

After the opening round, there have already been some surprises, such as Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets being swept by the Boston Celtics, with Durant only shooting 38.6% overall from the floor and 33.3% on three-pointers. This is a major downgrade from his performance in the playoffs last year. Shawn Powell from NBA.com stated, “It was stunning to behold, and this is no disrespect to the Celtics’ defense, but Boston certainly didn’t show Durant something he never saw before. And so, since trading Steph Curry for Kyrie — has anyone heard a satisfactory reason why he did so? — Durant is ringless.”

The Dallas Mavericks began the playoffs with an injured Luka Doncic, but since his return after a three-game hiatus, he is averaging almost 30 points. Jalen Brunson stepped up in his absence and will likely be signed following the postseason as he has proved his worth as a free agent. The Mavs and their series against the favorite Phoenix Suns will continue to heat up as a winner is decided by the weekend. 

Many analysts have praised the confidence that the younger generations of NBA players have shown in some of their first playoff experiences. Powell stated, “There’s an understandable learning curve and amount of jitters that come with making your playoff debut, but you couldn’t tell that this year. A handful of young players, barely out of their teens, seemed right at home, in fact, in the heat of the postseason. In other words: There was no need for them to wear sunglasses because the lights were too bright.” He went on to specifically highlight Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies and Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves and how they’ve handled the spotlight. 

Despite a Lebron-less playoff, there are still some heavyweight MVPs that have proven that the path to the championship is far from easy. Steph Curry and Golden State, Joel Embiid and the 76ers, and Chris Paul and the Suns are all coming off MVP caliber seasons, only adding to the parity of this year’s playoffs.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum are currently going head to head in the conference semi-final round. Both are regarded highly for their playmaking abilities but Giannis is the defending champion and MVP. However, this has not distracted young star Tatum in his determination to get to the title. “[They’re the] defending champs, they’ve been there before, they’ve gotten the job done,” Tatum said of the Bucks. “Obviously, it’s going to be a great challenge. I’m just looking forward to it. It’s [going to] be fun,” Tatum said in an interview with NBA.com.

The conference semi-final round is shaping to wrap up by next week where only 4 teams will remain in the NBA 2022 playoff. 

Each player on the losing team earned only $25,000 while the players on the winning team walked home with $100,000. The winning team also got to donate $350,000 to the captain’s charity of choice, and the losing team got to donate $150,000. LeBron James’ charity of choice was After School All-Stars Los Angeles, and Stephen Curry chose Brotherhood Crusade.

The game started off with a hilarious announcement of the starting line-ups by Kevin Hart, with the Canadian National Anthem sung by the Barenaked Ladies. But the most notable part of the pregame show was the National Anthem sung by Fergie. She gave it a twist with a jazzy feel and it could have sounded good; but the fact that it was Fergie, and the fact that it was live in front of millions of people, made it the laughing stock of the All-Star Game.

For the first time, there was a sense of competition during the All-Star Game. It didn’t seem like a dunk contest and it played like an actual game. It was no longer the Eastern Conference vs. the Western Conference. It was like school yard ball with captains choosing teams. Many players who haven’t gotten to play together were able to play on the same team, which also helped add to the competition. It was the first time that a player hasn’t scored more than 30 points in an All-Star Game. Team Steph lead for most of the game and we all thought that his team was going to take home the $100,000 per player. But in the last six minutes, both teams were trying their hardest to prove that they were the team that deserved to win. Team LeBron was the one to prove that they were the best, and James was there to prove that he’s still the best in the NBA at age 33.

Photo courtesy of The Ringer

The Houston Rockets defeated defending champions the Golden State Warriors in Oakland 122-121 after Kevin Durant’s final basket at the buzzer was waved-off. This gave James Harden and his Rockets their first win of the season while dropping the Warriors to their second 0-1 start in a row.

LeBron James and his defending Eastern Conference champions the Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed back former teammate Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics to Cleveland for their first game of the season. Irving was traded to Boston late this offseason after requesting a trade from his team of six years, the Cavaliers, this summer. The Celtics quickly fell into a large deficit after newly-acquired star Gordon Hayward gruesomely broke his ankle in the early minutes of the game. The Celtics were able to recover, but LeBron’s 29 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists proved too much for Boston with the Cavs taking the win 102-99.

These two nail-biting games featured both teams from the NBA finals last year and set the tone for what should be an interesting and competitive season. The big question after the Warriors’ 15-1 postseason championship run and the Cavaliers’ pre-finals 12-1 record is whether these two “super-teams” will have any legitimate challengers this season.

Photo courtesy of Bleacher Report

A wave of talent hit the Western Conference as the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have each added All-Star players to their already playoff-caliber rosters and will undoubtedly be in the conversation of top teams in the Conference. Reigning MVP Russell Westbrook added All-Star forwards Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to the Thunder from the Eastern Conference but lost interior defense and bench depth as a result. MVP finalist and All-NBA guard James Harden added former All-NBA guard Chris Paul to the Rockets’ back court, sacrificing bench depth as well in the process.

However, with reigning sixth-man of the year Eric Gordon still on the roster, don’t expect Houston to lack the bench scoring necessary to be a contender. MVP finalist and current MVP favorite Kawhi Leonard and his San Antonio Spurs will surely be in the conversation as well. They have the best coach in the NBA, Gregg Popovich, on their bench. With players like center Lamarcus Aldridge embracing and thriving in their roles, the Spurs will surely be a team to beat in the West this year, as always.

Photo courtesy of NBA.com

Finding a team in the Eastern Conference to challenge LeBron has been an issue since Paul George and his 2013 Indiana Pacers team pushed LeBron’s then Miami Heat team to seven games in the conference finals. Eastern Conference runner-up the Boston Celtics are the only team in the East that have drastically reloaded their roster, adding two All-Star players in guard Irving and forward Hayward. Unfortunately, Irving’s addition came at the expense of adding talent to the Cavaliers rosters in the form of playoff-superstar guard Isaiah Thomas and three-and-D forward Jae Crowder.

With these additions, along with former MVP Derrick Rose and Finals MVP Dwayne Wade, combined with Hayward’s season-ending injury, the Celtics still may not be at the level of Cleveland and “King” James. The usual Eastern powers like John Wall and the Washington Wizards and the All-Star backcourt pair of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry for the Raptors in Toronto will surely make their presence felt in the east, but perhaps some fresh teams will look to make the jump to contenders this season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has absolutely exploded out of the gates to start his 2017-2018 campaign. Leading the NBA in scoring and leading his Milwaukee Bucks to one of the best records in the league have given Antetokounmpo a very real stake in the MVP race as well as giving his team a chance to compete with the Cavs as a top team in the Eastern Conference.

The average draft position of the Philidelphia 76ers’ starting lineup is 5.6 overall and the average age is 23.8 years old. Led by second-year phenomenon Joel Embiid, attempting to play the first full NBA season of his career, and two consecutive number one overall picks in Markelle Fultz and Ben Simmons, the 76ers’ young and overflowingly talented roster may just make their mark on the East as they will attempt to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

The 82-game narrative that began this October will end sometime next June and will surely be a memorable one. If it is anything like previous seasons, there will be drama, excitement and anger, and if fans are lucky, history will be made on multiple occasions.

Photo courtesy of Uproxx.