Who’s Next in the History Books?

CBS Sports

This year, several NBA teams in the Western Conference finished with absurdly close records. Combining the intensity with the return of stars, such as Joel Embiid and Donovan Mitchell, who were returning to their teams from injury in the East, the playoffs have all-time high expectations. 

In the West alone, before the playoffs even started, there was a thriller game between the LeBron-led LA Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans led by the red-hot Zion Williamson. Unfortunately, Williamson suffered a hamstring injury in the game’s final minutes, leading to the Pelicans’ loss to the Lakers. However, New Orleans went on to defeat the Sacramento Kings without their star, slotting themselves into the eighth seed and pushing the Lakers down to the seventh. 

On the other side of the bracket, the Miami Heat found themselves in the eighth seed, lined up to play against their rival, the Boston Celtics. In the past five years, Miami defeated Boston two out of the three times they met in the playoffs. However, star Heat player Jimmy Butler got injured during the play-in game and could not suit up to face the Celtics this time around. Without their star, the Heat were quickly defeated by the Celtics in only five games. 

Alongside the Heat, many other teams, such as the Clippers, Lakers, Suns, Bucks, and 76ers, went down in the first round, leaving them with hard decisions for next season. The Clippers and Suns are in similar situations, as both teams have aging stars with little to no draft capital for the next several years. 

After the Lakers’ elimination, they dismissed their entire coaching staff, leaving them with one of the most complex decisions of the summer: Keep nearly 40-year-old Lebron James while continuing to build a championship roster, or turn their franchise around by getting rid of the veterans on the team in replace for draft capital and potential rising stars. 

The Bucks will likely retain their core stars next season, as they did not have Giannis Antetokumnpo for the playoffs. Therefore, Milwaukee did not get a chance to see how their new dynamic duo of Damian Lillard and Giannis would play out. 

Many assumed that the Celtics would have an extremely easy route to the finals, as they would play the Cavaliers who were down their star center, Jarrett Allen, due to injury. On top of that, if they defeated the Cavs, they would have an easy matchup against either the heavily injured New York Knicks or the young Indiana Pacers. However, only two games into the series, the Celtics found themselves tied with the Cavs after cruising to victory in Game 1. They then got punched in the mouth in Game 2, losing by a 24-point deficit

Over in the West, similar to the Celtics, many assumed that the Denver Nuggets would have no problem defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves. Denver’s star player, Nikola Jokic, widely considered the best basketball player in the world, had nothing but great performances against the Lakers. This left many assuming that little would change against the Timberwolves. However, Denver was quickly humbled, as the Timberwolves shocked them, beating them not once but twice on the Nuggets’ home court. This left the reigning champions on the road to play a must-win game.

This exciting post-season will only continue highlighting the up-and-coming young and established veteran-led teams. Only time will tell who will be next in the history books.