In every round, the ‘rebellion of the lower seed’ comes out, making the fans go wild. Only four teams remain in the 2022-23 NBA Playoffs (PO).
The Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers played Game 7 of the 2nd round of the NBA PO Eastern Conference (4 wins from 7 matches) at Boston TD Garden on the 15th (Korean time). Thanks to the performance of Jayson Tatum, who scored 51 points, Boston recorded the 4th win (3 losses) in the series at 112-88 and headed to the Eastern Conference finals. With Boston’s victory on this day, the NBA PO East/West Conference Finals (7 matches, 4 wins) bracket was completed. In the East, the Boston (2nd seed) and Miami Heat (8th seed) face off, and in the West, the Denver Nuggets (1st seed) and the Los Angeles (LA) Lakers (7th seed) meet.
The keyword that penetrates this 2022-23 NBA PO is ‘upset (losing to a lower seed)’. The two teams that reached the finals of both conferences had a bleak prospect of advancing to the PO in the middle of the season. The Heat entered 메이저사이트the season without a major power boost. It was the same during the season. Rather, the performance of key players declined, and even if they advanced to the PO, it seemed difficult to achieve high results.
So are the Lakers. After the opening, the Lakers started at the bottom of the conference with 2 wins and 10 losses, and seemed to be eliminated from the PO race early. At the time, experts estimated the Lakers’ PO chance at 0.32%.
However, the two teams succeeded in reversing side by side. The heat is a struggle of veteran players, and the Lakers made a trade at the right time during the season, leading to a dramatic rebound in performance.
The PO who joined after twists and turns, and the team ace Jimmy Butler (34, Miami Heat) and LeBron James (39, LA Lakers) led the inferior team. Butler led the way with PO averages of 31.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists, while James recorded 23.4 points and 5.3 assists in 10 rounds.
The Heat and Lakers both managed to upset top seeds in the first and second rounds. Miami broke through the first round by defeating the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks, who had a winning rate of 70% (0.707) in the regular league, 4 wins and 1 loss. The opponent in the second round was the 5th seed New York Knicks, but it was a hit that made them laugh this time too. The Heat defeated the Knicks 4-2 on the 13th and headed to the Eastern Conference finals early.
The Lakers advanced to the finals with a record of 4 wins and 2 losses each against the 2nd seed Memphis Grizzlies and the 6th seed Golden State Warriors. The upset has already come out 4 times.
The Heat and Lakers once again met the top seeds. Denver and Boston, who started in the next bracket, have yet to allow an upset. The first game of the NBA East and West Conference finals will be held at 9:30 am on the 17th (West) and 18th (East).