The NBA is in the last quarter of what is becoming the most interesting and unpredictable season in a long time. Ever since the departure of LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Los Angeles Lakers, a lot has transpired. LeBron will miss the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, and the Eastern Conference is now wide open for the taking.
Right now the four best teams in the East are the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Boston Celtics. The Indiana Pacers would be in the middle of that pack had they not lost their best player, Victor Oladipo, to a season-ending leg injury.
The Bucks have the second most points per game in the league behind the vaunted Golden State Warriors. The Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo, has led them to the best record in the league, and they will probably hang onto the number 1 seed in the East. He could possibly win MVP, as he will be in contention with James Harden and Paul George.
Behind Millwauke are the Raptors (2), Pacers (3), Sixers (4) and the Celtics (5).
The Celtics were the pre-season favorite to win the East. However, that has slowly died out after a disappointing year from the team. Kyrie Irving has been getting heat from the Boston media for weak leadership, who claim he has been pointing fingers at both his supporting cast as well as his head coach.The team went to game seven of last year’s conference finals without both Irving and Gordon Hayward, the two highest paid players on the team. Now the high expectations seem to have gotten to the Celtics, as the Celtics are winning more without Kyrie. The Celtics will go far in the playoffs, but they won’t get past the conference finals, and Kyrie possibly won’t be back with the Celtics next year.
The Raptors, with Kawhi Leonard are also contenders, but they have a history of great regular seasons followed by early playoff exits. I don’t expect them to beat any of the other top three teams four times in two weeks.
The 76ers probably have the best starting five in the East, with Joel Embid, Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and J.J Redick. Philadelphia can make a run to the Finals if they don’t have to play the Raptors or the Celtics, who have had their number since last year’s playoffs when the Celtics beat them four games to one.
Despite everything, without the LeBron-led Cavs these NBA playoffs, any team can journey their way to become Eastern Conference Champions. I think the team that will go to the NBA finals will be the Bucks who are slight favorites over the Raptors. It would become their first Finals appearance since 1974.