There was Toronto in 2019, Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, Milwaukee in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Denver in 2023 and Boston in 2024.
Six different seasons, six different champions. A series of parity like no other in the history of the NBA.
And now the Celtics turn to increase that trend. Boston will try to win consecutive NBA titles, something that no franchise has achieved since Golden State did in 2017 and 2018. The NBA playoffs begin on Saturday with four games 1, continue on Sunday with four more games and at the same time as a trip of 16 teams and two months will be out and running.
“It’s the best time of the year,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr.
Favor to win the title, according to Betmgm Sportsbook, there are the 68 Oklahoma City Thunder, the best general seed and the number 1 sown at the West Conference, a team that established a NBA record this season by overcoming the teams for 12.9 points per game. His number 1 partner of the East Conference: The Cleveland Cavaliers of 64 Victorias, a group that gathered the second best regular season in the history of the franchise.
The Thunder have not been in the NBA finals since 2012. The Cavaliers have not been there since the end of the second era of LeBron James in Cleveland in 2018. In the last six seasons, nine different franchises have made at least one appearance in the final, speaking beyond the Parity League in the moment, and the Thunder and Cavs have eyes in which that list is acquired.
“This is what you compete is to be able to compete in the biggest stages,” said Thunder Mark Daigneault coach. “Now we are entering that. We have gained the opportunity to be there like everyone else. We are certainly excited.”
The cavs are not even favored to win the East; The testers list Boston as the selection to represent that side of the league in the NBA finals. Cleveland, a team that led the NBA in annotations this season and ended second as a percentage of field goal, may be turning it into fuel.
“I think I’ve been saying that we are humble and hungry,” said Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson. “I don’t know if that sounds, but it’s a kind of who we are … Within humility, there is a hunger in that costume. They want to show that people are wrong.”
Among the others in the field of the playoffs: James and the Lakers, Stephen Curry and the Warriors, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee, Nikola Jokic and Denver. All previous MVPs, all last champions and all of them seek to do what Boston did last year.
“We are not defending a championship. We won last year. No one can be taken away,” said the forward of the Celtics Jays Tatum. “But last year it was last season. That is out of the window. We are not worried about anything in addition to magic at this time.”
Most clashes are established. It’s Boston vs. Orlando, New York vs. Detroit and Indiana vs. Milwaukee in the east, with Cleveland ready to meet Atlanta or Miami. In the west, it’s Houston vs. Golden State, The Lakers vs. Minnesota and Denver against the Los Angeles Clippers, with Oklahoma City waiting for the Memphis and Dallas winner.
James and Curry have four titles each. No one has reached five as a player from Tim Duncan in 2014, when San Antonio won his most recent title. And both have to believe that they have a realistic possibility of overcoming a loaded Western conference: James and the Lakers reinforced by the incorporation of Luka Doncic, Curry and the warriors reinforced by the addition of Jimmy Butler.
“It means a lot to match him,” said Minnesota star, Anthony Edwards, to face James, his Olympic teammate last summer, in Ronda 1. “He probably becomes the best player who has ever played basketball. So trying to get him out of the playoffs in my belt will be difficult, but it will be a fun path.”
There is a rematch of round 1 last season: Milwaukee vs. Indiana. The Pacers took advantage of a Bucks team last year and won in six games, and this year they will face a Bucks team that does not have Damian Lillard during at least the game 1. Lillard has been marginalized by a blood clot, although he was authorized to resume basketball activity this week.
“We are always going to get their best shot. They will always get our best chance,” said the Guard of the Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton. “Simple and simple, we don’t like them.”
There are tons of other stories.
Denver is looking for his second title in three years, only this time with the interim coach David Adelman, who replaced Michael Malone with three remaining games, to the helm, and the Nuggets open against Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and the hermetic defense that the clippers bring. Detroit is back in the playoffs, now with his eyes at the end of a postseason losing run of 14 games that dates back to 2008. Houston is back in the field, finishing a five -year drought and climbing to seed number 2 in the west.
Thunder are the favorites. The cavs and the Celtics won more than 60 games. Lakers, warriors and nuggets certainly have reasons for trust. The Timberwolves were the surprise team that made a deep race last year. The Pacers could be that team this year.
Parity can reign again.
“We have something to expect now,” Curry said. “And I am excited about the challenge.”
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