The NBA 1st Round Playoffs 2023 has been a fantastic journey so far. Look at the Miami Heat who was in 7th place prior to the play-in round. These guys loose to the Atlanta Hawks, but then obtain the 8th seed in beating the Chicago Bulls. They smack the Milwaukee Bucks around in game 1 and then go on to win the series in 5 games. Now as you know the Bucks were the number 1 seed in the playoffs. Miami had experienced its woes during the season with poor 3-point shooting, and injuries. So, walking into this round you would have never expected that the Heat would topple the number one seed, but they did. Look for the Heat to give the Knicks a spanking and return to the conference final again for the second straight year.
The Knicks took care of the Cavaliers in easy fashion with 4 games to one take down. What I have seen with the Knicks, is that they were fortunate to pick up Jalen Brunson. Many of you know that Cav’s Donovon Mitchell, former Utah Jazz standout, was on the block, but Danny Ainge was asking for the Knicks 1st born and more for him. Good thing the Knicks signed Brunson and never looked back. The Philadelphia 76ers took care of business of the Brooklyn Nets in short time but incurred an Embiid injury as they did last year. The 76ers will have to come with all guns blazing against the Boston Celtics if they want to get out of the 2nd round this year, as Boston took down the Atlanta Hawks 4-2. The Hawks gave the Celtics a good run, as they went into TD garden, and beat them there with a closing 3 pointer from , “Ice Tray-Tre Young”. These guys had a shot at beating them at home in game 5 but started to wither around the 2-minute mark with turnovers and missed high percentage shots.
Looking at the west we have the Lakers primed for a game 6 shot at taking out the Memphis Grizzlies at home tomorrow. Although the Lakers are much experienced in the playoffs with the likes of Lebron and AD, they are long in the tooth, and the young guns such as Morant, Bane, Brooks, and Jackson will be bringing it to them every chance they get as they did in game 5 of the series back in Memphis. The Minnesota Timberwolves, could not handle the pressure and gave up the ghost to the Denver Nuggets (number 1 seed). The Nuggets will be playing the Clippers, whoops, I mean the Phoenix Suns. Sorry about that, still mad about the Clippers not taking this team out, but when your 2 stars are on the bench, this is the result. Clippers played admirably though with Russell Westbrook at the helm. Sure, like to see him in a Clipper uniform next year.
Then we have the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors. The Kings started out like champs winning their 1st 2 games at home. They lost a terrible one in Golden State with Barnes shooting the last shot that would have put them ahead before the horn sounded. The Warrior came back in game 5 with their health playoff experience and won that one. Look for the Warriors to win this round and meet the winner of the Lakers-Grizzlies series. NBA 1st Round Playoffs 2023, has been fun to watch. I hope you basketball enthusiasts continue to enjoy.
