Over the past 4 years, it has been set in stone that the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers would play in the NBA Finals. After LeBron James left the Cavs to go to the Lakers, it seemed that the Warriors would run away from the rest of the league. But, so far it looks like there is no clear favorite for the trophy. With the resurgence of the Rockets, the struggles of the Warriors, and the 76ers, anyone is considered the favorite for the championship this season.
As the Golden State Warriors began their quest for a fourth championship in 5 years, this year looked to be one of their easiest years in the dynasty. But in the first round, the LA Clippers gave the Warriors all they had, and still lost the series in 5 games, as the second round began it looked like the Warriors would match up with the Houston Rockets for a series for the ages, with an injury to star Kevin Durant, this looked to be the end of their championship run. All the Warriors did was win 6 by a wide margin over the Houston Rockets, but how long can the Warriors stay afloat without KD. For the Portland Trail Blazers, they were able to quite the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round and would face the Denver Nuggets in a classic 7 game series, coming down to a clutch shot int he final seconds by CJ McCollum. The Blazers and Warriors split their four games in 2018-2019, and it looks like this year's Western Conference Finals, will come down to the wire.
After the Philadelphia 76ers rolled on past the Brooklyn Nets in the first round, they looked to be the team that would represent the Eastern Conference following the departure of LeBron James. Kawhi Leonard hit the first ever buzzer beater to win a game 7 in professional sports history. For the Milwaukee Bucs, they were able to dispose of the Detroit Pistons in 4 games and blew right on past the Boston Celtics in 4 games as well. Having one of the best players in the NBA, Giannis Antetokunmpo helps a little bit. This year in the Eastern Conference Finals it will be two of the best players in the league, duking it out to see which is the superior player, and lead their team to the NBA Finals.
This year the playoff have been more aggressive, more energetic, and more heart racing than ever. While many people predicted that these four teams would reach the conference finals, many people don't know who is going to move on after this, every team has a strength, and a weakness, some more glaring than others, but all in all this is the beauty of the NBA, while over the past few years it has been one of the parodic leagues in the major 4 professional sports, now even with the Warriors as the clear favorite, there are still three high-quality teams that can steal the throne from them. And even if the Warriors win the NBA Finals in 4 games, as long as the Mike Breen is on the call, it will always be an entertaining game.
