With less than two weeks remaining in the 2021/22 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, the pre-season favourites in both the Eastern and Western Conferences have a lot of ground to make up, particularly the Los Angeles Lakers who are languishing at the edge of missing the play-offs in the west.

Despite the best efforts of LeBron James (29.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.3 assists this season), his Lakers are in danger of an early exit to the season, just two years removed as champions. With the off-season signing of Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony to join LeBron and Anthony Davis, they had visions of another trophy run but injuries to both LeBron and Davis (plus the underachieving of Westbrook) all but derailed that dream.

They have six remaining games and all except one are against teams that sit above them in the Western Conference table, including the New Orleans Pelicans who they play tonight (Friday) and against which they collapsed in the second half last Sunday (March 27) for a 116-108 loss. The Lakers also have the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, and Denver Nuggets (twice) before the season concludes, and their hope for a play-in spot is appearing more and more to be wishful thinking.

In the east, the Brooklyn Nets entered the season with the highest anticipation of any team in the league, with the off-season signing of James Harden who joined Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to form the NBA’s best triple-threat – or so they thought. A COVID-19 mandate by New York Mayor Eric Adams prevented Irving from playing home games until last Sunday, and his return to the home floor against the Charlotte Hornets was less than attractive. In his first appearance on Brooklyn’s home court in nearly 10 months, Irving missed 15 of his first 17 shots from the floor, en route to a grand total of 16 points (6-for-22) with 11 assists and a 110-119 loss.

Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in early February 2022 and his initial impact on the teams’ performance appeared to be a match made in heaven, but, like he did with the Nets, he has ‘disappeared’ in critical games and at critical points within games. The Nets are currently eighth in the Eastern Conference table and the 76ers are fourth and both should comfortably find themselves in the playoffs, but the expectation of them going deep is not very high.

The Nets play the Atlanta Hawks tomorrow (April 2) in what should be an exciting encounter while Philadelphia will welcome the Hornets then travel to Cleveland on Sunday to duel the Cavaliers to better their standings in the table – this should be good encounter.

The current top team in the east, the Miami Heat have had a terrific regular season but hit the proverbial bump in the road to close out March, losing four-straight games last week which they had no business losing. On March 21, they lost to an undermanned Philadelphia team without Joel Embiid and James Harden, allowing second-year guard Tyrese Maxey to score 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter to give Philadelphia the win.

In the following game on March 23, they faced a visiting Golden State Warriors team that was missing Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. In a game that included a heated sideline flare-up involving Jimmy Butler, Udonis Haslem, and Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, they surrendered 37 points in the fourth quarter, allowing Golden State to pull away and win by 14 (118-104).

On March 25, they hosted the New York Knicks and led by 17 points early in the fourth quarter before the Knicks went on a 38-13 run to end the game and walk out with a 111-103 win. The following night (March 26), Miami trailed by as many as 37 points as they allowed the visiting Nets to score 67 first-half points to easily register a 110-95 win.

The Heat visit the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls this weekend (Saturday and Sunday, respectively) and need convincing wins heading into their last three games of the regular season to boost their psyche.

Last year’s beaten finalists have been the toast of the town all year and have been clearing out almost everything in their path. The Phoenix Suns are on a mission and have set their eyes squarely on the prize following their anticlimactic end to last season and have already clinched the top seed in the NBA being the only team to eclipse the 60-win mark.

The Suns are in a class of their own but this evening they visit Memphis to take on a Grizzlies team that has leaped to second place in the west. This must be the marquee match-up of the weekend as the Grizzlies enjoyed a narrow 114-113 win the last time they met in December last year, at a time when Memphis was just finding its footing – bearing in mind the Suns won the previous encounter 119-94 just the previous month.

Now is a long way from then and both teams have made significant strides in their development since their last meeting, so expectations are high for this one. Phoenix has an easy schedule (on paper) to close out the season but must be careful not to ease up on the gas and lose momentum.

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2021/22 NBA ChampionPhoenix Suns 4.25

Team Odds

Brooklyn Nets 6.75

Milwaukee Bucks 7.50

Golden State Warriors 7.50

Philadelphia 76ers 8.50

Miami Heat 10.00

Boston Celtics 12.00

Utah Jazz 17.00

Memphis Grizzlies 21.00

Denver Nuggets 26.00

*Only Top 10 odds shown (see website

for full list)