Guitarsoup said:
OKC still has to be the favorite and I might even put the Celtics as #2. Spurs are playing with house money at this point. They were predicted to be at 41 wins and 7% chance of playoffs by ESPN in the pre-season and they are on track for 61 wins. How they do in the playoffs will depend on the playoff seeding, I think Minnesota or OKC could knock the Spurs out, and Denver has Jokic and some depth, but I think their defense can be exploited. I think Spurs could be anywhere from a 2nd round exit to Cinderella run. But if I was a betting man, my money would be on OKC.
Finally getting to the fun part of the season!
Last year entering the playoffs, I felt like the Thunder would cruise to the title IF they could hold serve home in games 1-2 of each series. IMO there was a sizable gap between them and the rest of the NBA (which grew larger when Tatum went down).
They proceeded to make life super difficult on themselves and blew game 1 against DEN and Indy. Had to pull a few game fours out of their asses to get by. I think they learned alot from it and will be better for it this year. But...
I think the challengers this year are much more formidable. Obviously the Spurs are more than capable of beating the Thunder in a seven game series. They're playing great basketball. They've shown they can beat the Thunder, even in games where they had the Thunder's full attention. Despite being a year early, they're a threat.
I'm also more nervous about Minnesota this year than I was last year. Despite the WCF result last year, I think they 100% believe they can beat OKC and seem to have an extra gear against us this year. It's hard to say with Denver. Something doesn't seem to be gelling properly. But never say never with Jokic.
Agree re: the Celtics too.
