The defending champions and the two teams with the best records in the NBA are the post-All-Star Game favorites to win the NBA Finals.
The Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder are both at +225 to win the Finals at BetMGM while the Cleveland Cavaliers are at +800. The Thunder and Cavaliers are atop their respective conferences with 44-10 records at the All-Star break. The Cavaliers are 5.5 games ahead of the defending champion Celtics at 39-16, while the Thunder are a remarkable eight games ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies in second in the West.
Both the Celtics and Thunder stood pat at the trade deadline earlier in February. The Thunder’s big addition was the return of Chet Holmgren from a hip injury that had sidelined him for months. The Cavaliers added De’Andre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks at the deadline for a package that included Caris LeVert.
The Celtics have won two of three games against the Cavaliers so far and the two teams play once more on Feb. 28 in Boston. A Boston win will give the Celtics the tiebreaker if they can somehow make up those 5.5 games on the Celtics.
That seems like a long shot, however, given there are fewer than 30 games to play in the regular season.
The Knicks, Nuggets and Lakers are lurking behind the top three. New York is at +1300 and the Lakers and Nuggets are at +1400, though it’s fair to wonder if the odds for New York and Los Angeles are inflated a bit because of a big-market bias. The Knicks are third in the East and 2.5 games back of the Celtics, while the Lakers are currently fifth in the West.
However, Los Angeles is just three games out of second and a half-game out of fourth following its trade for Luka Dončić. The Lakers should have one of the most creative offenses in the league as Dončić and LeBron James get more time on the court together. However, the team’s defense will be a question mark, especially in the playoffs. The team was forced to sign Alex Len off the buyout market to bolster its depth at center after its trade for Mark Williams with the Hornets was rescinded.
Denver could be the best value of the three teams. Nikola Jokić is again putting up…
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