There’s a 64-win team in Boston that ran away with the league’s best record. The reigning champions in Denver, a group that won 57 games. A fearless young bunch in Oklahoma City whose No. 1 seed was no fluke. A trio of Villanova alumni in New York who have turned the Knicks into real contenders.
And, once again, there’s LeBron James, too.
The playoffs are about to begin with the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets the heavy favorites — at least according to BetMGM Sportsbook — to collide in the NBA Finals nearly two months from now, and no shortage of teams have realistic belief that they can win the whole thing as well.
After a seven-month ramp-up through training camp, the preseason, the regular season, the inaugural NBA Cup in-season tournament and then a play-in tourney to determine the final two qualifiers in each conference, the league finally wakes up on Saturday with 16 teams left in the chase for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
“Come Saturday, there are 15 other teams that want what we have,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “We have the world championship trophy, and everybody’s trying to take it from us.”