NBA Conference Concludes with Four Teams Remaining

By Oliver Collins
Sports Reporter

The NBA playoffs have been very interesting this year. And after the end of the Conference semi finals only 4 teams remain; The Lebron led Los Angeles Lakers, The three point specialist Denver Nuggets, The overly talented Boston Celtics and the underdog Miami Heat. As Lebron clinches yet another amazing playoff run we can’t help but ask how much longer can the King perform day in and day out. 

Lebron and the Lakers will face a Nuggets team that has come back from 3-1 leads against both the Clippers and Jazz, a feat never done before in NBA playoff history. On the other side of the league, the Boston Celtics who seem to always put themselves in high playoff contention will look to go to the finals for the first time in 10 years. And their opponent the underdog Miami Heat who are behind the young 3 point shooting backcourt including Duncan Robinson and talk of the tournament breakout player Tyler Herro.

Tyler Herro has had a very notorious career, even in high school his decision to attend the University of Kentucky came with lots of criticism, including death threats. After Herro decided not to attend his local Wisconsin college and instead chose their arch rivals, fans were taken aback. After one great season he proved the haters wrong and went off to the Kentucky Wildcats, eventually going as the 13th overall pick to the Miami Heat. In his second season in the NBA, Herro has already cemented his starting position for the very well run Heat and continues to show out even in big playoff games. 

On the other side of the league in the Western Conference the Nuggets came back from a 3-1 deficit not against the Utah Jazz but again at the Kawhi Leonard led Clippers. Behind an unreal performance from Jamaal Murray and Nikola Jokic the Nuggets were able to cement their way in playoff history by being the first team in NBA history to come back from 3-1 in back to back NBA series. Nikola Jokic has shown his skill throughout the NBA season, proving that he is a multi talented center with the ability to shoot, pass, dribble and drive. The Lakers however are a completely different team, with the dynamic duo of Anthony Davis and Lebron James they are definitely the toughest competition in the NBA this year.
Throughout Lebron’s legendary NBA careers he almost always goes to the finals or deep into the playoffs at least. This year is no different as Lebron has been virtually unguardable. Matching an amazing player like Lebron with an equally skilled player like Anthony Davis creates a Los Angeles team that is the likely candidate to win the finals this year. Lebron James is a player that anyone would want on their team, his leadership alone makes him a player that has a complete will to succeed. Having already won 3 NBA championships and having made it to 10 career NBA finals Lebron has proven both his talent and basketball iq are a force to be reckoned with.

To summarize the playoffs so far we start with the Heat who derailed the momentum train that was the Bucks led Giannis Anteteccoumpo. After the Bucks destroyed the Orlando Magic 4-1 the Heat beat the odds and dismantled the first seed bucks 4-1. The Boston Celtics managed to beat the Raptors in a seven game series but fell short to the Heat in six. The Lakers ran through the extremely talented Houston Rockets in a short five game series. The Nuggets beat the odds and came back from 3-1 in the first two rounds but fell short to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. It has been a great tournament so far and hopefully the finals will live up to the hype as well.