My 2022-2023 NBA Predictions
All over/under numbers used from DraftKings, Oct 14, 2022
October. Leaves change color. Temperature drops. Cempasuchiles line the streets of Mexico City. I convince myself that this is the year the Kings will finally break the longest playoff drought in US professional sports.
I’ve been a die-hard NBA fan for as long as I can remember. And a resilient one. The Kings haven’t made the playoffs since I was 10. The last Kings game of any importance that I went to was April 27, 2006, the Kevin Martin buzzer-beater to beat the Spurs in Game 3 the first round of the playoffs.
Anyway, enough of my sob story. I still love the NBA and every year I put my preseason predictions together. Below I have my predictions for 1-15 in both conferences and over/under’s for each team. I’ll check back in April to see how I did. A couple of thoughts going into this season:
The league is really deep: Even the bad teams have talent.
NBA Twitter will be better than ever: The season hasn’t even started and Draymond & Poole have drama in SF, Russ & Pat Bev are BFF’s in LA, and Ben Simmons & Kyrie Irving are… both playing in BKN.
This is the year, Kings: Make the play-in game, that’s all I ask.
The season, a 3-part story: The middle of the season is a bore right now. I (and it seems like most of the players) separate the season into 3 parts:
Games 1-30: Excitement, the season is new. I’ll watch almost any game on League Pass
Games 31-60: Rest days, the players seem to care less than the fans
Games 61-82: Sprint to 6 to avoid the play-in and sprint to the bottom for Wembenyama. Cue the SGA “injury” now.
Here are my predictions:
Regular Season Standings
Western Conference
Eastern Conference
Clippers
Nuggets
Timberwolves
Warriors
Suns
Pelicans
Grizzlies
Mavs
Kings
Lakers
Blazers
Thunder
Rockets
Spurs
Jazz
76ers
Bucks
Celtics
Nets
Hawks
Heat
Cavs
Raptors
Knicks
Bulls
Wizards
Hornets
Pistons
Magic
Pacers
Over/Unders for all 30 teams
SEASON RESULTS (added in April 14, 2023): 19-11; 63%
West
|
Team |
O/U |
Pick |
|
Suns |
52.5 |
Under |
|
Clippers |
52.5 |
Over |
|
Warriors |
51.5 |
Under |
|
Nuggets |
49.5 |
Over |
|
Mavs |
48.5 |
Under |
|
Grizzlies |
48.5 |
Under |
|
Timberwolves |
48.5 |
Over |
|
Lakers |
45.5 |
Under |
|
Pelicans |
44.5 |
Over |
|
Blazers |
39.5 |
Under |
|
Kings |
33.5 |
Over |
|
Jazz |
24.5 |
Under |
|
Rockets |
23.5 |
Under |
|
Thunder |
23.5 |
Over |
|
Spurs |
22.5 |
Under |
East
|
Team |
O/U |
Pick |
|
Celtics |
53.5 |
Under |
|
Bucks |
52.5 |
Over |
|
76ers |
50.5 |
Over |
|
Nets |
50.5 |
Over |
|
Heat |
48.5 |
Over |
|
Cavs |
47.5 |
Under |
|
Hawks |
45.5 |
Over |
|
Raptors |
45.5 |
Over |
|
Bulls |
41.5 |
Under |
|
Knicks |
38.5 |
Over |
|
Hornets |
35.5 |
Under |
|
Wizards |
35.5 |
Under |
|
Pistons |
29.5 |
Under |
|
Magic |
26.5 |
Over |
|
Pacers |
23.5 |
Under |
