NBA Regular Season Preview: Young Writers

Turn on your TVs and open your computers because we are officially in this year’s NBA regular season.  As usual, the 30 NBA teams will try their hardest to win as many games as possible.  Each team hopes to be one of the top eight teams in their conference so that they can be in the postseason and try to win the NBA Finals.  With all this in mind, let’s look at a few teams predicted to do well and learn a bit about them:

 Boston Celtics: The Boston Celtics, led by their captain Marcus Smart and star players such as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, are expected to do well this year. The Boston Celtics had a great season last year in which they made it to the finals only to lose against the Golden State Warriors.  Although they lost last year, according to NBC Sports, this year, they are projected to win the NBA Finals.  One issue that could affect how far they go is the suspension of their head coach Ime Udoka for violation of team policies put in place by the Celtics.  He will not be returning until next season.  

Milwaukee Bucks: The Milwaukee Bucks are not expected to do as well as The Boston Celtics but they are expected to do a good job this season.  According to The Lines, the Milwaukee Bucks are a large contender for this year’s NBA Finals.  The Milwaukee Bucks made it to the postseason last year but lost to the Boston Celtic in the conference finals ending the series with 3 wins.  Milwaukee hopes that their star players, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, will be able to pull through to get them into the NBA Finals.

Golden State Warriors: Led by players like Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole the Golden State Warriors are trying to get back to the NBA Finals.  After going 53-29 last year, they are hoping to have a better record this year.  Although they were in third place in the Western Conference going into the post-season, they could win enough games to get them all the way to the NBA Finals, which they then won.

Dallas Mavericks: Led by Luka Doncic in all stats except blocks, the Dallas Mavericks are hoping to get farther than they did last year.  Last year they made it to the conference finals only to lose to the Golden State Warriors.  After going 52-30 in the regular season, the Dallas Mavericks were able to pull off a deep playoff run which only ended in a series between the Golden State Warriors and themselves.  The Dallas Mavericks are a championship contender, but they don’t think they are going to win.

Article written by Jack Loveday of Sligo Middle School

Image courtesy of Avery Wang of Richard Montgomery High School