This NBA season has been a rollercoaster of emotions and many upsets, mistakes, and crazy endings have occurred already throughout. We’re already almost 50 games into the season. Some teams like the Celtics caught fire and never looked back. Other teams, like the Lakers, however seem to never meet expectations. Let’s take a look at each conference and how the first half of the season played out. The top 4 seeded teams in each conference will be discussed in this piece.

EASTERN CONFERENCE: First off, we’ll talk about the 4 seed, the Philadelphia 76ers. This is such an up and down group. The coach is seen as a frowned upon coach within the basketball industry. Embiid could explode, or he could flop on any given night. The fate of this team is decided by how their guards play (Tyrese Maxey and James Harden in specific). Seed 3 is the Brooklyn Nets. Kyrie and the Nets are going on an absolute tear and seem to be meeting their expectations for this season. Giannis and the Bucks sit at the 2 seed, and while going through a mini-slump, they are still as good as the team that won it all two seasons ago. Then finally, the outlier of the East, the title contending team who sits 5 wins ahead of everybody at 33-12, the Boston Celtics. Jayson Tatum could win the MVP award this season if he keeps stuffing the stat sheet and getting consistent, dominant wins. The East seems to be controlled by one team at the moment, and others should start to find their footing late in the season.

WESTERN CONFERENCE: Like the Eastern Conference, we’ll start the section off with evaluating the top 4 seeds. Sitting in 4th currently are the New Orleans Pelicans. They were on an absolute winning spree at the very beginning of the season, and have since plateaued. This is still not a bad thing, considering this is the Pelicans winningest season in a while. Zion is finally emerging as the player he always should have been, and they seemed to have turned it up a gear this season as a unit. The 3 seed, shockingly, is the Sacramento Kings. De’Aaron Fox shut all of the haters up this season, leading his team to a top 3 seed. The Kings have caught fire at the right time. They’re winning a lot of games, and their style of play is electric. Comfortably in the 2 seed are the Memphis Grizzlies. They look an unstoppable force this season. Every single player on their 15 man roster is good at basketball. Last but not least, sat at the 1 seed are the Denver Nuggets. This team quietly rose to the top. They just can’t stop winning games. Nikola Jokic could three-peat as an MVP as he is putting up colossal numbers. The west, as usual, looks a bit stronger than the East.

CONCLUSION: As the season winds down, we look for each of these teams who’ve been highlighted to make a substantial run in the postseason. If any of these teams fail to make the playoffs, it would be a true disappointment.