2023 NBA Playoffs: Semifinals Predictions

Picture from NBA.com

Srikar Kalapala

The first round of the 2022-23 NBA playoffs came to a close last week, with a ton of shockers and sleeper teams upsetting a higher seed. In the East, the eighth-seeded Miami Heat upset the best team in the regular season, the Milwaukee Bucks. This marked only the sixth team in NBA history that an eighth seed defeated a one seed, and it is the first time in 11 years. The Heat also became the first team in NBA history to win a series as a play-in team. Also in the East, the Knicks upset the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games, and the Sixers and Celtics took care of business against the Nets and Hawks, respectively. Out in the West, the one-seeded Nuggets performed a gentleman’s sweep against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Phoenix Suns also defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in five games. The West also had two major upsets, in the form of the Los Angeles Lakers defeating the two-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in six games, and the Golden State Warriors defeating the Sacramento Kings in seven games. 

The first round showed that any team can defeat any other team in a seven-game series, which means more exciting basketball games are on their way. Let’s get into some predictions and see which teams will advance to the conference finals.

Semifinals Predictions:

 Eastern Conference

(2) Boston Celtics vs. (3) Philadelphia 76ers

Celtics in 6. The Philadelphia 76ers return to the Eastern Conference semifinals after sweeping the Brooklyn Nets, and now go up against their rivals in the form of the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately, Philly got dealt a blow with an injury to MVP candidate Joel Embiid, which severely diminishes their chances of winning this series. As for the Celtics, they put away the Hawks in six games in the first round, a couple more games than expected. Both games had Trae Young going for 30+ PPG and carrying the Hawks to wins. The Sixers could pose similar problems to the C’s with elite backcourt play from James Harden and Tyrese Maxey, both of which can drop 30+ points on any given night. But in the end, any game Embiid misses gives the Celtics an advantage, which I believe they will capitalize on and send Philadelphia home yet again.

(5) New York Knicks vs. (8) Miami Heat

Heat in 7. The Miami Heat did it again. Another year where their play gets raised several notches in the playoffs, and another year that the Milwaukee Bucks become a victim to them. Playoff Jimmy showed up and showed out yet again, putting the Heat on his back and averaging 37.6 PPG en route to a gentleman’s sweep of the NBA’s best regular season team. They now face the fifth-seeded New York Knicks, a team that is hungry to get to their first ECF since 2000. The Knicks are no joke. They dismantled a Cleveland team in five games in a series that many thought would go the distance. The Knicks are a team that prides themselves on defense, something that they will need to use on Jimmy Butler. This should be a fun, extremely physical series that the Knicks could pull out with their defensive capabilities, but despite all the injuries the Heat sustained in their last series, I’m not picking against Butler when he is playing like the second coming of Michael Jordan. 

Western Conference

(1) Denver Nuggets vs (4) Phoenix Suns

Suns in 7. The Phoenix Suns are coming off a gentleman’s sweep of the Los Angeles Clippers as the series became blemished with the absences of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, but also had some bright spots with Devin Booker breaking some franchise records. The Suns now take on the Denver Nuggets , who boast back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic, as well as his sidekicks Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. Without KD on this team, I would have picked the Nuggets, but with the addition of one of the best scorers of all time, give me the Suns to eke out a series victory, with a conference finals berth on the line.

(6) Golden State Warriors vs (7) Los Angeles Lakers

Warriors in 7. Well well well, what do we have here? Another matchup in the historic rivalry between LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors, led by the greatest shooter of all time, Steph Curry. Neither James nor Curry are getting any younger, which could mean this is one of the last times we get to see a playoff series between these rivals. The Warriors got here by defeating the third-seeded Sacramento Kings, a team that was inexperienced, yet took the defending champs to seven games. The Lakers got here by defeating the two-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, a team that talked a lot but couldn’t defeat the seventh seed. Somehow as the sixth seed, the Warriors have home-court advantage in this series, which could prove key as they struggled on the road in the regular season, and played extremely well at home. They have to be wary though, as one of the hottest teams in the league is their challenger, and the Lakers will not be an easy out as long as LeBron is playing. But LeBron hasn’t been the whole story for the Lakers, as key role players such as Austin Reaves have taken the next step in the playoffs, and Anthony Davis has returned to being one of the best paint defenders in the league. I like the Dubs to win this series, but I don’t expect the Lakers to go out without a fight.