There’s little over a month to go until the first round of the NBA playoffs start and anticipation is reaching fever pitch all over the country.
In Boston fans are dreaming of a straight-forward Championship win that will see the Larry O’Brien trophy return to the Celtics for the first time since the Bush administration.
In LA, Clippers fans are hoping that James Harden can end his Championship hoodoo with their team and even in places like Sacramento, fans are dreaming of a shock run of form that could see them upset the odds.
Which set of fans are dreaming and which team has a right to think that they can actually win the Championship this year? Read on to find out as we reveal the 5 teams most likely to go the distance in the playoffs in our 2024 NBA predictions.
Sacramento Kings
You can call us crazy if you want but we have a feeling that this year the Sacramento Kings could do something in the playoffs. We’re certainly not suggesting that they can go all the way but, on their day, they have the ability to beat anyone.
The Kings current 37-27 record in the Western Conference might not be anything to write home about but if you look at some of their results then it’s not hard to see why we’ve tipped them to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.
Last time out they made incredibly short work of the Milwaukee Bucks, winning 129-94 and that’s not the first time they’ve faced good opposition this season and won. They’ve racked up impressive wins against the Lakers, the Warriors and the Clippers to name but a few.
When they have lost against better teams as well, they’ve had a really good habit of running them incredibly close and fighting right the way to the final buzzer. That’s a quality that will stand them in good stead as we approach the business end of the season.
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(The Bucks have been heavily tipped by many to win the playoffs yet the Kings made short work of them recently.)
LA Clippers
James Harden, that is all. Okay I suppose we should expand on this one a little and not just lazily invoke Harden’s name, even though he is the number one reason that we’ve put them in this list.
Although at the beginning of the season when the Clippers and Harden were in dreadful form, no-one had them featuring too highly in their NBA predictions. The Clippers turnaround in form from that six-game losing streak at the start of the season has been nothing short of sensational.
Without that sluggish start they’d surely feature way higher in the current betting odds for the Championship, but as it stands they’re still no higher than fourth favourites with most sportsbooks and we think that’s wrong.
Denver Nuggets
The Oklahoma City Thunder have stolen the Denver Nuggets thunder – we couldn’t resist double-thundering – in the Western Conference thus far this season but that shouldn’t take away from the Nuggets own form.
At the time of writing they have a 45-20 record and will go into the playoffs not only in form, but also with last year’s Championship win fresh in their memory. We’re not saying they’re the favourites to win the playoffs, but with Nikola Jokic in their roster they have to be considered.
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(Could Jokic fire the Nuggets to back-to-back Championship wins?)
Boston Celtics
The final name in our NBA predictions is the obvious one, the Boston Celtics. The Celtics 51-14 record at the time of writing puts them on course to either match or just surpass their best regular season record of all-time.
That’s no fluke either as the Celtics have deserved everything they’ve got this season by playing some of the best basketball that we’ve seen in recent years. Ahead of the playoffs they are the only team that looks truly capable of going the distance.
Whilst other teams in this list can beat anyone on their day, the Celtics have proved that they can beat anyone in this league regardless of whether it’s their day or not. Barring an absolute miracle, we can’t see anyone stopping the Celtics from taking the Larry O’Brien back to Boston for the first time since 2008.