The Eastern Conference has been the top dog of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in this year’s regular season. After years and years of the Western Conference dominating the NBA, it looks like things are turning in favor of the Eastern Conference. The East saw four teams reach over 50 wins this season, with all the teams in this year’s playoffs having 41 wins or more. All the eight eligible teams this postseason put together very strong resumes, so this should be one of the more exciting first rounds and overall postseasons in recent memory.
The reigning Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics are looking to reclaim their throne on top of the East, but they are hungry for more this season. After an extraordinary run last season, their dreams of winning the NBA Finals were crushed at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. This season, the team has been dominant all season. One big difference between this team and last season’s team is Malcolm Brogdon. For Brogdon, the Celtics sent the Indiana Pacers a 2023 first-round pick along with a bundle of other players. Since the deal, Brogdon has not disappointed. The guard has been the team’s main contributor off the bench and is a strong candidate to win Sixth Man of the Year. The Celtics once again carry the two-seed into the playoffs, but they will hope to write a new story, one that ends with an NBA championship.
The main challengers that will look to knock the Celtics off their pedestal this season are the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers. The Milwaukee Bucks finished with the best record in the league with an astounding 58 wins and hold the one-seed. They are of course led by Most Valuable Player (MVP) candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo and have a stout roster supporting him. While three-time All-Star Khris Middleton has been dealing with lingering injuries all season, he is getting some much-needed rest and could return to his scoring ways soon. They are also supported by defensive anchors in Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez, who can also make their presence known in the scoring column. As for the three-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, they are favored to make a run by many, much in thanks to MVP front-runner Joel Embiid. The star center has been nearly impossible to stop this season, scoring 33 points per game. Pair him with former MVP James Harden, who has been feeding him the ball and has also been a supreme secondary scoring threat, there’s no wonder they won 54 games.
While some don’t put the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks on the same level as the teams previously mentioned, they did win 51 and 47 games respectively. The Cavs are led by Donovan Mitchell, the star guard that they acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Utah Jazz this past offseason. While they gave up five first round picks and three viable scoring options, the deal is paying off. The starting five that now includes Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Isaac Okoro, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen has established itself as one of the better lineups in the league and they are primed to do damage in the playoffs. The New York Knicks will be tasked with taking down this team, and their team is pretty darn good, too. After missing the playoffs last season, the Knicks captured the fifth seed this season, finishing 47-35. Going into this past offseason, the front office knew the team needed a primary ball handler, and with Jalen Brunson of the Dallas Mavericks hitting free agency, the Knicks jumped at the opportunity, signing him to a four-year deal. Brunson has been well worth the money, proving to be one of the more dangerous point guards in the league. Julius Randle and Immanuel Quickley are two other guys to watch for, the former earning an All-Star nod and the latter breaking out off the bench, becoming an x-factor on both ends of the court.
While the bottom three playoff teams in the East had fine seasons, they are not in the same stratosphere as the other contenders, but hope to write an underdog story. The Brooklyn Nets traded two of their stars at the trade deadline in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but still managed to grab the sixth seed. Mikal Bridges was one of the returning pieces in the Durant trade and he has blossomed into a star, helping the team stay composed. There’s some nice young depth surrounding Bridges, one of which being Cam Thomas, a lethal scoring guard, who dropped 40-plus on four occasions. With these pieces, they could be a fun story. The seven-seeded Atlanta Hawks are led by three-point assassin Trae Young and combo guard Dejounte Murray. They finished 41-41 and earned the seventh seed thanks to a win over the Miami Heat in the Play-In Tournament. While they have a solid roster, they did not find as much success as people had hoped for. Maybe they will start to turn things around, but it looks unlikely in their matchup with the Celtics. Finally, the Miami Heat seem to be on their last legs, limping into the playoffs as the eight seed. They still have veteran star Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, but they haven’t been able to perform at the same level as they once had. They have a troubled match up with the Bucks, so it’s hard to see them making noise.
The Eastern Conference is loaded this season and there’s really no one team that is head and shoulders above the rest. It will be exciting to see which team tames all the other powerhouses, as they embark on a journey to the NBA Finals.
