The 2023/24 National Basketball Association (NBA) postseason is in the heat of the conference semi-finals, but almost every team is taking turns at both ends of the spectrum, flipping between extreme heat and extreme cold, including on their home courts.

Four teams from each conference are currently embroiled in a best-of-7 series to advance to their respective Conference Finals. The team with the better regular season record in each series has home court advantage and, as with all NBA playoff series, are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with the team having the better record hosting Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 (as necessary).

In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics, the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and top overall seed in the league, battled the number four seed Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics, who only lost four home games in the regular season, lost Game 2 in their first round series against the Miami Heat and also lost Game 2 to the Cavaliers. However, with Jarrett Allen missing the semi-final series due to a rib contusion, Kristaps Porzingis missing most of the series with a calf injury, and Donovan Mitchell missing the last two games of the series with a calf strain, the ambitions of Cleveland were doused, and it always looked like an uphill struggle for them to get past Boston.

Particularly impactful was the absence of Mitchell who, in 10 playoff games this year — seven against the Orlando Magic and three against the Celtics — he averaged 29.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game. Their playoff road win in Boston — their first road win of these playoffs — ignited thoughts of a potential upset in the series, but they were way too undermanned to pull it off. The Cavaliers lost Game 5 on Wednesday (May 15) and the series 1-4 to bring their season to a disappointing end.

In the other East series, the number two seed New York Knicks renewed their old rivalry with the number six seed Indiana Pacers and both teams have held court in the series. The trend continued Tuesday (May 14) in New York, with Jalen Bruson, the undisputed standout in the playoffs for the Knicks, dropping 44 points in a 121-91 Game 5 blowout victory. The result was a complete turnaround from Game 4 in Indiana, where the Pacers — by an eerily similar score line (121-89) — ran the Knicks through the gauntlet to even the series 2-2.

Game 6 takes place in Indiana this evening with the back of the home team placed firmly against the wall, but with the hot and cold nature of the series in mind, plus the fact that the Pacers are 5-0 at home in these playoffs (three wins against the Milwaukee Bucks, plus two against the Knicks) the expectation is for another home win to set up a Game 7 decider in New York on Sunday. However, Brunson and the rest of the Knicks’ locker room will have a say in the matter and would prefer to close out the series tonight. It’s a hard one to call, but a seven-game series appears to be a good bet.

In the West, the number one seed Oklahoma City Thunder is trying to get the better of the number five seed Dallas Mavericks in a series that is impossible to predict game after game. In another hot and cold series, in which both teams have split victories on each other’s home floor, the possibility of going to seven games looms large. Game 6 in Dallas tomorrow (May 18) may decide the outcome of the series, but for the unbiased onlooker, a Game 7 decider on Monday (May 20) in Oklahoma City would be the perfect cap for this semi-final round.

The Thunder leaned on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams to sweep the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round, by an average of 15.8 points per game, and became the youngest NBA team ever to win a playoff series. They have carried a similar energy into the semi-final round and are loading up defensively against Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, holding the Dallas star duo to a combined 37.0 points per game in the series. Irving has been mainly disrupted, twice being held to single-digit scoring in the series, which had happened just twice previously in his playoff career.

If ever there was an expectation of a seven-game series, this is it. Youth versus experience. Stars in the making versus stars already shining. Should be a great finale, whether in Game 6 or Game 7.

The other West clash features the number two seed and defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets against the number three seed Minnesota Timberwolves in one of the most exciting playoff series in recent times. The Nuggets, as in their opening series against the Los Angeles Lakers, started this series slowly and found themselves in a 0-2 hole, based mainly on the performance of Minnesota shooting guard Anthony Edwards.

In the first two games in Minnesota, the Denver squad was made to look second-best. They were unable to overcome the slow starts and the duo of Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns ensured a constant flow of scoring to secure the wins. Games 3, 4, and 5, however, provided a different story and, despite Jamal Murray having a lukewarm postseason, the Nuggets pulled off three-straight impressive wins to establish a commanding 3-2 lead in the series.

Edwards has ascended into the upper stratosphere of prominence in this postseason, but the Nuggets were simply too determined, too experienced, and too talented to allow their shortcomings in the first two games to define the series against these surging Timberwolves. It has been an exciting watch and arguably the best series of these playoffs so far (maybe on par with the Knicks vs Pacers series), and the league stands to benefit from these matchups.

There are many positives for the NBA in this postseason, but specifically the many talented players in their mid to low 20s who have shown up in these playoffs. The Western Conference in particular is being dominated by ballers who have yet to even hit their prime, while a few seasoned veterans are still there to polish their schooling. Come what may, the Conference Finals begin next Wednesday (May 22) with the four teams left standing, and the expected drama and thrills should be no less than that which has already been experienced.

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