Tag Archives: competition

My 2023 NBA Playoffs Prediction

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With one week left before the NBA Playoffs start in 2023, my excitement is through the roof. I can’t wait to see many different teams in the playoffs. This year, there are so many different things to watch for. However, I would like to first start off by establishing that I am a Golden State Warriors fan, so I may be a bit biased toward Steph Curry and my Warriors. 

With the regular season dwindling down and the play-in tournament having not taken place yet, I can’t state much about the matchups, but I will describe some topics I am certainly looking forward to.

Initially, before addressing the playoff teams, I would like to talk about how disappointing the Mavericks were this season (I’m sorry Mavs fans). Coming into the season, they had big expectations due to their appearance in the Western Conference Finals the year before. The Dallas Mavericks saw Jalen Brunson leave for the New York Knicks in the offseason. However, they were still staying afloat, drifting around the 4-6 seed range in the Western Conference until February. In February, a few days before the trade deadline, the Mavs traded for superstar point guard Kyrie Irving, with hopes that he would be able to take their team to the NBA Finals alongside Luka Doncic. However, this experiment failed, with the Mavs losing the majority of their games with Luka and Kyrie together and ultimately resulting in them falling outside the required seeding (1-10) to compete in the postseason. Nonetheless, the Mavs still have an incredibly bright future and I can definitely see them going far in the postseason next year, as long as they do well in free agency by adding some bench depth and defense. Even adding an older big man like Dwight Howard or Demarcus Cousins can do wonders for them.

With last year’s Western Conference Finals Runner up eliminated from postseason contention, the West is wide open for other teams to have a chance. The Denver Nuggets, a team that has been really good for a few years now, along with their two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, may see some playoff success this year as they have been able to snatch the one seed. The Memphis Grizzlies, the second seed in the West, are also going to see their chance to go further in the playoffs. The three-seeded Sacramento Kings have had an amazing year, ending their sixteen-season playoff drought. However, their lack of experience and the fact that they will either play the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, or the defending champion Golden State Warriors have me thinking that they’ll have a first-round exit. Those three teams who are in competition for the sixth seed have five superstars combined along with really good supporting players.

Despite all of this, the Western team to watch in my opinion is the Phoenix Suns. They have a star-studded super team with Kevin Durant at the helm. This team went to the NBA Finals in 2021 before losing in six games without Kevin Durant, so the addition of Kevin Durant has me scared for their potential. If the healthy Phoenix Suns play your team, watch out. You might be in for some heartbreak. 

The Golden State Warriors, my team, have had an up-and-down season. They started out struggling, even going 4-7 throughout their first eleven games. Then, Stephen Curry, the team’s superstar, and a generational talent, got injured twice throughout the season, missing a handful of games. However, as of recently, the Warriors have been playing inspired basketball and I’m excited to see how my team will do in the postseason. 

The Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers are two star-studded teams that both started the season with a lot of losses, but have found themselves throughout the last one and a half months of the regular season and climbed the standings. 

Now, moving to the East, I believe there are only three teams to pay attention to in the Eastern Conference. No disrespect to any of the other teams in the Eastern Conference, but these three teams are powerhouses that will be tough to defeat in a seven-game series. These teams are the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, and Philadelphia 76ers, also the 1-3 seeds in their conference. The Milwaukee Bucks won the championship in 2021 and their team is only getting better every year, so I can definitely see them going deep in the postseason this year. Next up is the Boston Celtics, who went to the NBA Finals last season before losing to my Warriors. This Boston team is centered around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but they also have last year’s Defensive Player of the Year in Marcus Smart along with some great supporting pieces like Malcolm Brogdon, Derrick White, Robert Williams III, and Al Horford. When they are at their best, they can be really difficult to beat. My last contender in the East has to be Philadelphia. They have struggled in the playoffs every year, usually losing in the first or second round, so I can’t necessarily trust that this is their year. Regardless of their previous struggles, this is a team with Joel Embiid, who is the MVP in my opinion, along with James Harden. If they will eventually win a championship together in Philly, I feel like this can be their best chance. 

With the NBA Playoffs starting next weekend, I’m incredibly excited to see how it plays out. Of course, I’m hopeful that my Golden State Warriors can do their thing and get another championship, going back-to-back. However, we must wait and see. On April 15, the NBA Playoffs will begin and I highly advise you to tune in if you have an interest in watching some amazing talent leave it all on the floor for a chance to win the 2023 NBA Championship. 

Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski

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Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski is a science fiction novel about a competition organized by NASA among the brightest, gifted young adults from across the globe. One of these great minds belongs to seventeen-year-old, Cassandra Gupta. She has been training for a chance like this for her entire life. She is at the top amongst her classmates, but she must compete and be better among the others, who are of her caliber. The winner of the competition will be chosen to join astronauts on a secret mission.

Cassie is determined to be the one to go on that mission. As part of the training, everybody has to go through various physical and mental tests. Through the competition, Cassie discovers things about herself and others around her. When the time comes to chose someone for the mission, NASA picks someone who, in their eyes, will be the most successful.

The plot of the book was what enticed me to pick up this book to read, and I am glad that I picked it. With a great main character, the book kept me reading it till the end. Cassie is head strong and determined, which is the driving force behind the plot of the book. Also, she is able to keep going past her limitations; this is true, especially when she is in life and death situations. With a surprising ending, this book will be sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

-Anmol K.

Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.

The Hunt Trilogy by Andrew Fukuda

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thehunt_andrewfukudaAnother world of fantasy is combined once again with modern science-fiction. Andrew Fukuda’s three book series (The Hunt, The Prey, and The Trap) adds a little more suspense, imagination, and creativity to the bestselling genre. Just think of The Hunger Games, Divergent, Legend, The Maze Runner, and the Twilight series blended together into 960 pages of extraordinary story.

Seventeen-year-old Gene wakes up every night before going to school, frightened of his true identity being revealed. Once dawn arrives, everybody calls it a “day” to sleep, unless they want to be burned alive by the scorching sun of daylight. As you may have guessed, this is a story about a race of vampires. They are classic vampires that despise sunlight and water, have super strength and speed, fangs to bite down on the rawest meats, and most of all, a delectable craving for the blood and flesh of humans. Of course, Gene is a human out of the millions of vampires around him, and little does he know about the cat-and-mouse game he is about to take part in.

With a Hunger Games-like setting of participants being picked into joining a Heper Hunt, also known as a human hunt, Gene and a few others are chosen to hunt humans and eat as many as possible to be crowned the victor. Obviously, Gene is the only one who cannot eat someone of his own kind. During the training sessions before the hunt, Gene goes unnoticed and is able to communicate with the humans that will be eventually eaten by the vampires. He finds answers to his many questions and is even more curious about the history of the two races. Is there something missing from the evolution of humans and vampires?

The Heper Hunt is only a part of Andrew Fukuda’s trilogy, and he takes you into an amazing world of vampires, similar, yet quite the opposite to human society today. This is a plot that will keep you reading until the ultimate finale that holds all of the unanswered questions. I would recommend this book to ages 13-16 and give it an eight out of ten for its shocking conclusions and mysteries.

-Riley W.

Andrew Fukuda’s Hunt Trilogy is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.