NBA 2022-23 Season Preview: Predicting Standings, Playoffs and Awards

NBA 2022-23 Season Preview: Playoffs + Champion

We’ll assume that the Play-in Tournaments go chalk, with the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks advancing over the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls in the East. In the West, the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks slide in above the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings.

Eastern Conference

Boston Celtics over Atlanta Hawks in 5 – Trae Young gets smothered and there isn’t enough help elsewhere to do more than win a game

Philadelphia 76ers over Brooklyn Nets in 7 – The series we all want! Philly struggles to guard Kyrie Irving, pushing it to seven, but Nets end up being too small to stop Joel Embiid in Game 7

Milwaukee Bucks over Miami Heat in 6 – Giannis Antetokounmpo is unstoppable

Toronto Raptors over Cleveland Cavaliers in 7 – Raptors’ playoff experience elevates them over a young Cavs team that will be better a year from now

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Celtics over Toronto in 6 – This ends up a low-scoring slog, but Boston’s shotmakers are better equipped for such a situation

Bucks over 76ers in 5 – Harden clams up, Tobias Harris gets exposed and once again, Giannis is unstoppable

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Bucks over Celtics in 7 – A rematch of last season’s epic seven-game series, this one goes the distance once again. This time around Grant Williams and Derrick White don’t catch fire, and Khris Middleton is around to push Milwaukee back to the NBA Finals.

Western Conference

Golden State Warriors over Dallas Mavericks in 6 – A down season from the Mavs sees these teams meet two rounds earlier this time around. Warriors are too deep and have the defenders to throw at Luka.

LA Clippers over New Orleans Pelicans in 6 – Last year the Pels won this game in the Play-in Tournament, and while they’ll have Zion Williamson this time the Clips will (hopefully) have Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

Denver Nuggets over Minnesota Timberwolves in 7 – The big upset of the bracket, the playoff experience of Nikola Jokic and company prevails against the upstart Wolves, who are a much better team this season but don’t win a series.

Memphis Grizzlies over Phoenix Suns in 7 – The Grizzlies are rolling by the time the playoffs come around, and the Suns get a little shaky with the ghosts of 2022 swirling around their heads

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Warriors over Grizzlies in 6 – Another rematch as the Warriors once again take care of business against the Grizzlies, who are incredibly talented but don’t quite have the talent of the Dubs.

Clippers over Nuggets in 7 – This series will be closer throughout than in the NBA Bubble three years ago when the Nuggets came back from a 3-1 deficit. Kawhi Leonard will hit one too many shots and Jokic will get exposed a bit on defense.

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Warriors over Clippers in 6 – This should be an amazing series, with plenty of star power and two great coaches. In the end, the combination of Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole is too much for the Clippers to keep up with.

NBA Finals

Golden State Warriors over Milwaukee Bucks in 7 – Giannis will be an overwhelming force for the Warriors to try and slow down, but they have plenty of savvy options in Draymond Green, Kevon Looney and now James Wiseman. On the other end, Jrue Holiday can defend one of Curry or Poole but not both. The Bucks have an elite top 3 but their depth starts to drop off quickly, whereas the Warriors have 11 guys all ready to go. It will be epic and a lot of fun, but the Warriors repeat and win title number five of this dynasty.

What do you think? Which teams are too high, and which are too low? Should another team be winning it all? Whatever happens, the NBA is back and it’s going to be an amazing year.