02-17-2024, 06:25 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-17-2024, 06:29 PM by Jason Terry.)
Inner circle contenders:
Boston
Denver
LAC
If everything goes right contenders:
East:
Milwaukee
Cleveland
Miami
NYK
Philadelphia
Indiana
West:
OKC
Minnesota
Dallas
Phoenix
Lakers
GSW
At this point, i think these 15 teams are the current “contenders”. That list should be something like 8-10 teams by the playoffs. Higher than most years because of the wide open field. The West particularly will have more contenders because there’s no Boston in the west that’s clearly the best team.
So, breaking down only the west to see our chances of going to the finals.
Nuggets and Clippers are the best, but not by too much for others to overcome. An injury (which has happened every year) could totally knock out the Clippers.
Lakers and Warriors could knock themselves out of the mix and are no longer are real threat
The other west 3 contenders all have problems bigger than ours:
Suns do not have the required playoff defense to win 4 series
Thunder have no experience and their lack of size could be a problem against teams like us
Wolves players collectively have a history of choking . Their offense struggles. Gobert is a non-factor in the playoffs
Nuggets vs. Mavs west finals has a strong argument
Boston
Denver
LAC
If everything goes right contenders:
East:
Milwaukee
Cleveland
Miami
NYK
Philadelphia
Indiana
West:
OKC
Minnesota
Dallas
Phoenix
Lakers
GSW
At this point, i think these 15 teams are the current “contenders”. That list should be something like 8-10 teams by the playoffs. Higher than most years because of the wide open field. The West particularly will have more contenders because there’s no Boston in the west that’s clearly the best team.
So, breaking down only the west to see our chances of going to the finals.
Nuggets and Clippers are the best, but not by too much for others to overcome. An injury (which has happened every year) could totally knock out the Clippers.
Lakers and Warriors could knock themselves out of the mix and are no longer are real threat
The other west 3 contenders all have problems bigger than ours:
Suns do not have the required playoff defense to win 4 series
Thunder have no experience and their lack of size could be a problem against teams like us
Wolves players collectively have a history of choking . Their offense struggles. Gobert is a non-factor in the playoffs
Nuggets vs. Mavs west finals has a strong argument
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