MAR 30 - Hottest Picks For The 2017 NBA Conference Championships

Hottest Picks For The 2017 NBA Conference Championships

Written by on March 30, 2017

With the end of the NBA season now very much on the horizon, basketball fans are starting to engage in conversations about how the postseason might end up playing out. It’s tough to deliver a fully complete NBA betting odds road to the NBA Conference Championships, mostly because we just don’t know what the opening round match-ups are going to be just yet. We are close enough to the end that we can hazard a pretty good guess, though, so let’s try and see if we can look at each conference and predict how they will go. We’ll take it as far as the Conference Finals, as the Championship game itself is something that we will take a closer look at in other articles.

A Closer Look At The Hottest Picks For The 2017 NBA Conference Championships

Eastern Conference

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics look as though they are going to secure the #1 and #2 seed in the East, although which team gets which spot remains to be seen. What we can surmise is that neither of these two are likely to fall at the first hurdle. Sure, the Miami Heat are closing out the season strong, but don’t have enough to take these two out.

Things get interesting in the #3 and #4 spots, which are going to feature the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors. The Wizards should finish third, which would most likely pit them against the Milwaukee Bucks, who they should be able to get past. That would leave the Raptors and Hawks going head to head, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Atlanta might win a tight series.

The next round would see the Cavalier easily deal with Atlanta, while the Wizards and Celtics would play a series that would go to7, with the Washington Wizards moving on to face Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Final. Here is where I think we would see the first real surprise, as I like the Wizards to move on in 7.

Western Conference

The Western Conference is a lot like the East in that the top two seeds appear to be set in stone, with the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs almost certainly taking those spots. Again, I don’t expect to see either of those two have any issues in the opening round.

The Houston Rockets are comfortably in at #3, and look as though they will face OKC in the opening round, which should be a fantastic match-up. Potential for an upset there, but I think Houston move on. The Jazz and Clippers would be another good one, and I like LA to take it and move on to face the Dubs.

The Golden State Warriors will get past the Clippers, possibly in 5, while the Spurs and Rockets match-up is one that has the potential to go the distance. In the end, the experience of the Spurs will prevail, and they will move on to face the Warriors in the Western Conference Final.

It will be the Golden State Warriors, to the surprise of no-one, who represent the West in the NBA Finals.