In a couple hours the NBA Play-Ins will commence. The Playoff Play-In style, which began two years ago during COVID, has now become a part of the NBA Season schedule. Eight teams (four from each Conference) will battle for the seventh and eighth Playoff seed. Read here for more.
The players/Teams who clinched the first through sixth Playoff seeds will have a week of resting, reenergizing, re-strategizing, and retrospecting to do. Maybe even re-trading. [Smile] Did you catch that? No, No, No more trading; the deadline was on February 9th this year. However, the Teams whose season have ended can actually begin trading players. So will be those Teams that are eliminated as the Play-Ins and Playoffs progress. These Teams get an early start to trade till the next deadline. And hopefully, they get to pick the best on the market before everyone else.
2022-23 Season
The last few weeks of the Season, culminating in the battle for the Playoffs, was spectacular to say the least. No need to rehash the plays, but I’ll mention a few Season notables.
Notables:
- Watching the Los Angeles Lakers (LAL), who were at the bottom (#13) of the League’s ladder with a 2-10 start, fiercely rise to #7 and are now in the Play-In. They were at #5 for a splitting second till the day’s games ended.
- Boston Celtics (BC), who were the Eastern Conference’s leader for the longest during the season, collapsed to usher in Milwaukee Bucks (MB), who during the season floated between the 5th and 4th seed, as the Eastern Conference and overall Season leader.
- Sacramento Kings (SK) has emerged a wonder contender this Season. The Team’s rise may not be unconnected with their new head and ex Warriors Coach, Mike Brown. I love Mike Brown. He also coached the Nigerian Men’s National Basketball Team at the last Tokyo Olympics. No doubt he brought all his cool, clutch, guts, gifts, and talents with him and it shows. Of course, Sacramento Kings have gifted young and veteran players as well who have made his first-year job lighter. Can’t wait to watch Golden State Warriors (GSW) battle Kings in the Playoffs. Will Brown use some GSW trade secrets against his old Team? We’ll see.
- Denver Nugget (DN), impressively clenched Western Conference leader ousting Phoenix Suns (PS) who carried the position for the first-half of the Season.
- I’m also speechless about GSW and defending Champs’s impressive stats despite the Team’s appalling road record and injuries.
- The Season’s most notable was LeBron James (LBJ) being the new NBA All-Time Season Scorer. He did it on February 7, 2023, at a match against Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC) with his family, friends, fans, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (KAJ), the former All-Time Scorer and several celebrities, in attendance. KAJ became the ATS in 1984. It took almost twenty years fir the record to be broken. Who will the next be and how long will it take to accomplish it?
The Mona Lisas, Picassos, da Vincis, Michelangelos, Monets, van Goahs of basketball are all in the NBA.
Think-Talk
2022-23 NBA Season has been intriguing to say the least. What with the upsets and key players/coaches movements and injuries. We watched the good, bad, and ugly. But, overall, the NBA Games have become sublime and continue to amaze me. It’s become an art that the players tirelessly continue to perfect daily. The Mona Lisas, Picassos, da Vincis, Michelangelos, Monets, van Goahs of basketball are all in the NBA. I aww at their different styles, clutches, talents on every game and can’t choose who the GOAT really is.
What with Donovan Michell (in January) and Dame’s (February) 71-point game. The Association had to order drug tests. Funny, but true. We’re told that it’s part of the NBA-Players contract. It’s good to know that such policies are in place. But, candidly, I hope that the Association sees the drug test as futile but that individual performances are merely the hungry bar the players have set for themselves. Of course, high-scoring point games have previously been accomplished in the history of NBA. Wilt Chamberlain, former Warriors, once scored a 100-points in a game. We all remember Kobe Bryant’s (of sweet memories) 81-point game. My clutch #30-Curry handles 50-point games easily and has made one 60+-point game, too. The list of high-scoring players is actually longer than I had imagined. All this notables continue to endear me to the NBA game.
Did you watch any of the 2022/23 Season games? What notable did you observe? Do you have a spectacular Player, Team, or Coach? Feel free to share in the Comments – I’ll love to read your take on it all.
I hope you watch the Play-Ins (starting shortly) and Playoffs en-route to the Season’s Championship. I will be. See you at the screen or ground.
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