It’s a long and winding road to the NBA Finals as the NBA playoffs began on April 12th, but the final series doesn’t commence until May 30th. Yes, the NBA postseason is indeed a two month marathon, not a sprint and in the end, it’s all about answering this question- who will end up facing the Golden State Warriors?
And can anyone even provide a challenge to Golden State in the final round? Let’s take a look at who you might see taking on the super team of all super teams from the Bay Area in the season finale.
The NBA Finals will be broadcast on ABC in the United States, and if you’re reading this outside the U.S. then you probably realize the requirement of a good VPN in order to stream the series. Luckily, you still have more than a month to weigh your options and make a decision.
With the Warriors runaway favorites to win it all, this year’s NBA playoffs have little drama and intrigue in the Western Conference. On the other side of the bracket is where it gets interesting. Sports Betting Dime indicates that the Milwaukee Bucks are the team with the second best odds of winning it all, followed by the Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.
Keep an eye on the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Bucks, as the Wisconsin based franchise has been revitalized on all levels. Having been irrelevant for the longest time, Milwaukee is a powerhouse again, rising up at the same time that their rivals just down the road, the Chicago Bulls, fell off the map.
The Bucks won the first two games of their opening round best of seven with the Detroit Pistons, in a series that has a lot of Kentucky Wildcats flavor. Eric Bledsoe, one of the Bucks’ key players who led them in scoring with 27 in game two, is a former Wildcat. Meanwhile Pistons head coach Dwane Casey won a national championship as a player with Kentucky in 1978.
UK’s 12 players in the NBA postseason, spread across seven teams and including the Warriors’ DeMarcus Cousins, is the second most of any school. The ex-Cats factor is really something to watch as the Lexington, KY based NBA player producing institution started the 2018-19 NBA postseason with 31 players on opening-day rosters more than any other school.
Some other NBA Finals trends and note to be aware of: the Western Conference has won seven of the last ten NBA championships and five of the last ten NBA championships have been won by a team from the Pacific Division. This will also be the first time in nine years that the NBA Finals won’t feature Lebron James, as his Lakers team was a mess this past year and fell well short of qualifying for the postseason.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.