Out of the 30 teams competing in the National basketball association, only one gets to be called champion. Through good, consistent regular season performance, qualifying for the playoffs, and defeating every other teams in the said playoffs, the road to a title is indeed very difficult.
Currently, the stage has progressed to the conference semi-finals, with eight teams left, representing their respective cities. Four teams in the Western and Eastern conferences will battle, to earn to a trip to the NBA finals, where only one from each, representing their respective conferences, will face each other as the final challenge.
Part of the thrill of the sport is the uncertainty of the winners, a fact that has even pushed fans into taking part in betting at online casinos, which evidently offer a lot more nowadays than traditional games like poker and roulette, for example. The reason behind this lies in a wide variety of innovations and game features that modern-day digital casinos offer – whether it’s paying with cryptocurrencies or exploring brand new, hot drop jackpot games.
With that said, despite both the reigning champions and the runner-ups being in the semi-finals, they are far from being safe picks, as a lot changes throughout one year. Teams make adjustments and rosters shift, alongside the power standings.
Still, let us go over the current standings in the playoffs, and look at what teams are favored as the potential winners of the championship.
Phoenix Suns Vs Denver Nuggets
The freshly concluded game 4 of the series just tied it up. Despite Denver’s’ star player, Nikola Jokic’s incredible 53 point double-double, the team lost in a close game with the score of 129-124. The stars from Phoenix also showed up to play, as KD and Devin Booker combined for 72 points total, scoring 36 each, and securing double doubles as well.
A common criticism of the Suns were their bench players. In the most recent game however, it is notable to mention Landry Shamet’s impressive 19-point performance, which single-handedly dwarfed the 11 combined points from the Denver bench.
It is clear that the Nuggets have an incredible starting five, with the former MVP Jokic, as well as an all-star caliber Jamal Murray, who put up 28 in game four, but the coach will need to put more trust into the bench unit, allowing the starting five to rest and be even more efficient down the stretch.
With the series tied 2-2, this series is looking like it will be a classic, most likely going to the seventh decisive game, with the Nuggets being a slight favorite, despite their back-to-back losses.
LA Lakers Vs Golden State Warriors
The current champion Golden State Warriors have just went down 1-2 in the series after their game 3 loss. Despite LeBron James playing in his 20th NBA season, he is still putting up impressive numbers, and alongside D’angello Russell’s 21, and Anthony Davis’s 25, they were able to beat the Steph Curry lead Golden State.
Despite undoubtedly being the greatest shooter alive, even Steph has nights when he is off, however it would be foolish to assume his inconsistency will continue further in the series. The Warriors are currently the favorites to tie up the series at 2-2, but to win they will have to find a consistent answer to Anthony Davis, who is proving to be a challenge even to a great defender such as Draymond Green.
Overall, The Lakers are favorites, and it is not hard to see why. The Warriors have an incredible backcourt in Klay Thompson and Curry, as well as Andre Wiggins, yet once again, there seems to be no answer for AD, who is being assisted and enhanced by a floor general of the caliber of LeBron, who is starting to take a supporting role later down his career.
Miami Heat Vs New York Knicks
The last, eight seed Miami Heat is proving to be quite a formidable team, taking down the Knicks in game 3 to take a 2-1 lead. The first and the most important reason to their success, is none other than Jimmy Butler, who keeps proving repeatedly that he is a star that can be relied upon, come playoffs.
Coming off an ankle injury, Butler managed to score 28, in a 105-86 victory. What is concerning for the Knicks, is the fact that the Heat overall are not even playing their best basketball. New York has been incredibly inefficient in the series, and in this game specifically, it is a whole another level.
Julius Randle, Bronson and Barret shot around 30% field goal, which simply will not get the job done. It is true that in terms of physicality they outmatch the Heat, but Miami is far more efficient and selective with their shots, which is a huge factor to them being not only up in the series, but also being favorites to win it.
Philadelphia 76ers Vs Boston Celtics
After a nail-biting game four, which ended in an overtime 116-115 victory for the Sixers, the series is tied up at 2-2. James Harden in undoubtedly the MVP of the game, not only for scoring a near 42 point triple double, but also for making the game winning three pointer to put the Sixers up by 1 with 16 seconds to go.
His incredibly efficiency from the field, is a contrast to his lackluster percentages in the previous games, and it is very clear that if Harden manages to keep it up, the previous runner-ups for the title will be eliminated.
Most odds makers disagree however, as the Celtics are the favorites as of this point. The series will most likely go to seven games, where the MVP Joel Embiid, James Harden and 76ers will need to step up against Tatum, Brown and the Celtics squad.