The Boston Celtics are known as one of the best franchises of all-time. Last year, the Celtics won the NBA Finals and delivered a RECORD-BREAKING 18th NBA Championship title to their franchise. After the Celtics won the title last year they are now even under more pressure to repeat as champions.
When you talk about sports usually you talk about the great teams compared to the less talented teams. In the NBA there are often great teams who are under pressure. When you have pressure in the NBA you typically have high expectations for your team to do good and even win a championship. Here are the five teams under the most pressure this year.
New York Knicks
The New York Knicks are one of the most famous franchises in NBA history. Even though they only won two NBA titles in their time, they are still one of the most talked about franchises in the history of the NBA.
Lets start with the 2020-2021 season. The Knicks, led by Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, showed a lot of promise and even made the playoffs, but fell short in the first round losing to the Atlanta Hawks. Then the next year, 2021-2022 season, the Knicks lost all hope and fell to a 37-45 record and didn’t make the playoffs. But in the offseason greatness was about to happen. The Knicks signed former Mavericks backup point guard, Jalen Brunson. When he signed with New York, the fans went crazy and finally had some hope in the Knicks winning again. For the 2022-2023 season, Jalen Brunson and the Knicks came to a 47-35 record. They made the playoffs and things were looking very good for them. But then the Heat, who would go on to the NBA Finals to lose to the Denver Nuggets, beat New York 4-2 in the series. This had New York fans feeling upset again. But they didn’t lose hope. Not yet…
Entering the 2023-2024 season the Knicks went insane and finished with a 50-32 record. They were the second seed in the East. They went on to face the 76ers and beat them 4-2 in the series. They advanced to the semifinals of the NBA Playoffs. They then faced the Indiana Pacers who they lost to 4-3 in the series due to major injuries to Mitchell Robinson, Bojan Bogdanovic, and OG Anunoby. This has New York fans questioning their team. Will they ever make it to the finals again?
Now the 2024-2025 season is about to start and with it the Knicks traded for Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Now the Knicks expectations are very high for the New York Knicks and they should have the pieces to win an NBA Championship with what they have.
Philadelphia 76ers
When you think of the 76ers you think big and mostly likely think about Joel Embiid. The 76ers have been an overall great team in the regular season but not as good in the playoffs. Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers have gone through a lot of trouble, good and bad, over the past few seasons. They failed to make the playoffs earlier in Embiid’s career but as he progressed and got way better over the next couple of years, he showed exactly who he was as a top-notch NBA superstar. He went on to win the 2023 Kia NBA MVP award. The 76ers last year lost in the first round to the New York Knicks, mostly because Joel Embiid was coming off a Meniscus injury and he wasn’t exactly at his best. This even puts more pressure on the 76ers.
But now as the 76ers just signed former Los Angeles Clippers player, Paul George, the expectations are even set higher to win a title this year and the following years counting.
But this year could be the year that the 76ers win a title because they have all the talent that they need to succeed and win an NBA championship this year. Let’s see if the 76ers can live up to the high expectations.
Los Angeles Lakers
Over the past couple of years, The Los Angeles Lakers have been through a lot of ups and downs. Before LeBron James signed with the team, the Lakers weren’t really good because they didn’t have Kobe Bryant anymore and the roster was mostly young and underdeveloped rookies. But since Lebron James joined the Lakers in 2018 he delivered an NBA Title in the 2019-2020 season in the bubble. Things were looking good.
The Lakers coach at the time was Frank Vogel and after that championship in 2020, the Lakers again fell and continued to lose games to tough opponents. They then fired Vogel. Then fired Darvin Ham who took responsibility as coach after Frank Vogel got fired. Then the newest coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, JJ Reddick, took over. JJ Reddick has never coached in the NBA before so now the Lakers are going to feel pressure.
With JJ Reddick as the new coach and Bronny James being drafted to the Lakers, things are going to get even more complicated with the future of this team. LeBron might retire soon and the Lakers are under a lot of pressure to win a championship because they arguably have the greatest player in the world on their team. Will the Los Angeles Lakers live up to the hype or will they fall down?
Boston Celtics
Jayson Tatum is one of the best players in the NBA and he and Jaylen Brown are one of the best duos to ever step foot on the court. The Celtics have a great roster and because of that they have even more pressure to keep on their dominant streak to become on top of the league.
The Celtics now have to deal with the fact that Porzingis is out due to injury. Now the question is can the Boston Celtics deliver another NBA championship to Boston or will they fall due to pressure?
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns have one of the best teams on paper in the NBA. But due to lack of mobility and major key injuries, the Suns have struggled to make a big difference in the League. This is why the Suns are under the most pressure in the NBA.
The Suns have a big three, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker. So far this big three hasn’t worked out so well. They struggled to even win easy games against bad and even worse teams.
The Suns this year with everyone healthy should be able to return to the top of the league. And finally win a championship and make it big into the playoffs. Let’s get ready for the new season and see what happens this year.