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This year, the Oklahoma City Thunder are overwhelming favorites to win another title. The Denver Nuggets, led by the 3-time MVP NIkola Jokic, will be crowding out the Thunder, for the western pennant. In the East, the Cleveland Cavs should finally win it, if they remain healthy for the playoffs. Victor Wenbamyama will continue maturing with the San Antonio Spurs, while rookie Cooper Flagg gets us excited. Move over, Lebron. Watch out, Steph and Kevin. The next generation stars are here!
Team USA may have annexed both the men’s and women’s 5×5 golds in Paris, but it doesn’t have a lock on the same next Olympics. Although there will be a huge advantage with the homecrowd in Los Angeles in 2028, the reality is that the world has been catching up on the US side.
This should be a game similar to the inaugural In-Season Tourney Finals between Lebron James’ Lakers versus Tyrese Halliburton’s Pacers, who incidentally are both starters in this match. In that championship game, Lebron’s bigger, stronger veterans upended Tyrese’s smaller, speedier youngsters. This All-Star game will pit Team Lebron’s size and experience against Team Giannis’ speed and youth.
This is it, folks, the NBA playoffs in a frenetic college-style no-nonsense knockout affair. Action will be hot and heavy, it will be wet and wild. It will be intense, it will insane. It’s the In-season tournament. Go watch.
The Denver Nuggets have never won an NBA title before. They have reached the Conference Finals 5 times, the last one in the Bubble in 2020. This time, the Nuggets are aiming to go all the way to grab the NBA crown.
Overall, the key factors that will matter most in these last few games in the regular season will be: how the new players (Durant, Irving, Westbrook, etc) integrate into their new teams’ systems; how the injuries (Lebron, Durant, Zion, Towns, etc) affect their teams’ standings at the end of the season; and how other issues (Morant, Wiggins) pan out. We have here a long list of outstanding players. But do they fit in? Will they bring out the best out of the rest of the crew? Are they healthy enough – physically and mentally – for the rigors of the playoffs?
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