NBA Playoffs: Does the Regular Season Matter?

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Listen, I know what you’re about to say. The teams in the West with good regular season records earned it, no excuses. And guess what? They did. None of their main guys got hurt, and they had an MVP-caliber talent to carry them through the nail-biting games of the season. But all that work doesn’t amount to much if they don’t match up well with teams that got their shit together late in the season (which is the exact time your team should be cooking). Welcome to the NBA playoffs.

But look at the defending champion Golden State Warriors. They struggled all season with injuries and chemistry issues (no one has forgotten “the punch”), along with Andrew Wiggins, who was pivotal in defending and defeating Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals. He’s returning to the team and they are as confident as they’ve ever been this season, with Steph Curry AND Klay Thompson in their bag.

So the Warriors might just make it back. That is if “the king” doesn’t have something to say about it. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are in contention again. We all kind of saw it coming but Anthony Davis is playing with more aggression and the new additions have gelled well. Most people are predicting them to beat the Memphis Grizzlies, despite them being the better team by record and depth, but they don’t even have the two best players in the series.

As for the rest of the teams in contention, the Denver Nuggets have the two-time MVP Nikola Jokic. But do you really trust them to go all the way in a conference with KD, Kawhi, Curry, and LeBron in it (all on good teams)? The Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers had woes as well, but they made necessary additions (if you’re Phoenix, adding arguably the best player on the planet helps) and they’re now about to have a fight to the death in the first round.

I think whoever wins that series can handle the Nuggets with grace. My overall point is the regular season should be treated as a fun spectacle and that the NBA has always been about talent and playing the long game. I’m rolling with the team that has a superstar like Curry or AD, regardless of home-court advantage, almost every time.