Image via Getty/Harry How
And then there were four.
After over 200 days of basketball played, including the WWE-like storylines, on the court and off, that has been debated and analyzed since the start of the 2022-2023 season (which will go into overdrive this week with the surprising “dismissal” of Phoenix Suns’ head coach Monty Williams, Joel Embiid, James Harden, Doc Rivers, and the Philadelphia 76ers shitting the bed, the Golden State Warriors dynasty possibly ending, and NBA DumbBoy Ja Morant’s continued nonsense), the NBA’s Final Four is set. Funny enough, it’s the same quartet that battled it out in 2020’s NBA Bubble: Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and Denver Nuggets.
This year’s matchups will be the first time two Play-In teams—the Lakers and the Heat—made it to the Conference Finals. We’re also one step closer to possibly seeing a 13th Celtics versus Lakers NBA Finals, where the winner of that potential collision between the longtime rivals will win their 18th championship, the most in the Association and third most out of all four professional sports leagues.
Let’s pour one out for the 12 teams who battled but failed to climb the postseason mountain. With that said, this week’s rankings go from a Top Five to a Top Four as we break down the teams competing in the Conference Finals.
Miami Heat
As Miami Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team eliminated the New York Knicks to advance to their third Eastern Conference Final in four years, “We’re not your normal eighth seed.” That is what you call an understatement. Remember, a month ago, this team failed to crack the top six in the East, ending the regular season as a seventh seed, lost their first game in the Play-In Tournament, and had to fight for their playoff-hoping lives against the Chicago Bulls to make the cut. The boys from South Beach—without Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo—have been playing with house money all postseason and are now the second eighth seed ever to reach a Conference Final since, ironically, the Knicks in 1999.
The Heat’s bread and butter has been their defense all season, but their offense took off in the playoffs. They’re third in threes made (147), fifth in three-point percentage (36.8 percent), also fifth in offensive rating, and sixth in field goal shooting (46.9 percent). Their defensive calling card remains intact, ranking fifth in defensive rating. Unfortunately, that last stat is the only one where they’re better than the Boston Celtics. Though the Heat split their regular season series with Boston 2-2, Jimmy Butler only played in two games, shooting an efficient 55 percent from the floor but only putting up 21 points and 11 rebounds. If his second season is any indication, that’s sure to change with Jimmy Buckets again showing he has that dog in him, slotting fourth in scoring (and number one out of the remaining teams) in the postseason (31.1 points per game).
Los Angeles Lakers
Everybody had a slight feeling the Lakers would make it this far. And by “everybody,” we mean Kendrick Perkins, who took a much-deserved victory lap after L.A. eliminated the defending NBA Champions, the Golden State Warriors. The two-headed monster that is LeBron James and Anthony Davis has led the Lake Show, with both The King and The Brow averaging double-doubles in the playoffs (James with 23 points and ten rebounds, Davis with 21 points and 14 rebounds). Davis also tops rebounding (14.1) and blocks (3.3) in the postseason.
On the offensive side, the Lakers are the eighth-best in the playoffs, including ranking fifth in shooting (47 percent) and fifth in threes made (125). But they’ve been known for their defense, with the Purple and Gold boasting the best defensive rating. Starting tomorrow, they’re up against the postseason’s No. 1 offense. During the season, LeBron played the Nuggets three times, averaging 25/7/7. Davis, in three games, put up 18 points and 11 boards. Both teams split the four times they played.
Based on regular season records and playoff seeding, this Western Conference Finals should be a slaughter in favor of Denver. No seven-seed has ever made it to the NBA Finals, and Denver is the last number one seed remaining in the postseason. But since Lakers GM Rob Pelinka pulled off a trade deadline miracle (acquiring D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Mo Bamba, and shipping off Russell Westbrook), Los Angeles is 26-13, including the Play-In and Playoffs. The Nuggets are 23-15.
Boston Celtics
“Humbly, I’m one of the best basketball players in the world.” —Jayson Tatum
It might have been a bit presumptuous for Tatum to say those words with his chest after saving the Boston Celtics’ season, outscoring the Philadelphia 76ers with 16 fourth quarter points (after starting 0-11 from the floor), carrying his squad to a series-tying road win. After his Mother’s Day Massacre in the deciding game, it was undeniable that he backed up that statement by choosing violence and dropping 51 points to crush Philly 112-88.
The man was on one, not only scoring the most points ever in a Game 7 but doing so on 60 percent shooting from both the field and from deep, as well as adding 13 boards and five dimes just for the hell of it. That monstrous performance made him the second player ever to have a stat line of 50-plus points, 10-plus rebounds, five-plus assists, and five-plus threes in a playoff game.
Individual performances aside, as a team, the C’s are the top offense in the Eastern Conference and fourth in defense. Who’s ahead of them? Their Conference Championship opponent for the third time in the last four years, the Miami Heat. Both teams split their four regular season matchups, with both Tatum and his running mate, Jaylen Brown (in three games), averaging 30 points each.
Denver Nuggets
If there was any knock on Nikola Jokic that contributed toward him not winning a third straight MVP, it was his past playoff performances. That’s not the case this time around. Out of the remaining teams in the postseason (Denver being the sole number one seed, by the way), the Serbian big man is the top bucket-getter with 30.7 points per game, to go along with 12.8 rebounds and 9.7 assists on 54.9 percent shooting. In the conference semifinals against the Phoenix Suns, The Joker racked up a triple-double stat line of 36.6 points per game, 12 rebounds per game, & 11.4 assists per game.
Jamal Murray has also been a solid second option for the Nuggets with 25.9 points and 6.5 assists. Yet, he shot a miserable 27.6 percent from three in the Conference Semis. That will need to improve in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. While Denver is third in the West in the three-points made in the playoffs, the Lakers are second (even though Denver has a better three-point percentage, second in the postseason, while L.A. is 11th). While the Nuggets have the top offensive rating in the playoffs, Los Angeles has the top defensive rating with the leading rebounder and shot blocker in Anthony Davis.
This Western Conference matchup is set up to be the epitome of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, despite Draymond Green’s astute analysis.