Now that the NBA’s trade deadline has come and gone, the real run to the championship begins. In many seasons, there are maybe four or six teams that, at this point, have a chance to win it all. However, this season, no really elite teams have emerged beyond Phoenix and Golden State, and both of these teams have enough flaws to broaden the field of real contenders. Let’s take a look at some of the dark horses when it comes to the postseason as you consider your NBA sports betting on futures props.
Dark Horses to Make the Playoffs
Brooklyn Nets
I know, the Nets came into the season as an elite contender in the East. However, they have just lost 11 games in a row. KD is out indefinitely, and Kyrie Irving has only appeared in 14 games – and the Nets have just won three of those contests. James Harden, predictably, got tired of the nonsense around him and forced his way to another team, reuniting with Daryl Morey in Philadelphia. In exchange for Harden, the Nets now have Ben Simmons, who has not appeared with the 76ers all season. The teams swapped frustrated players in the hopes that the new scenery will work out on both ends. For the Nets, they envision a team with Irving bringing the ball up, KD scoring and Simmons playing shutdown defense, as well as setting picks and rolling to the basket. The Nets don’t have a big man clogging up the lane, so Simmons will have more rom to operate in that scheme than he did in Philadelphia, where Joel Embiid rules the lane. Simmons can also grab rebounds and start the transition game. The Nets also got Seth Curry in the deal; he is an underrated shooter who can nail the three-ball and the mid-range jumper. He won’t score as much as Harden would, but with KD occupying double teams, Curry should be able to perch at the arc and wait for distribution. If New York City lifts its COVID-19 vaccine mandate (or if Irving changes his mind and gets the vaccine), then Irving will be able to play every night. If all this work out, then Brooklyn is elite once again. However, if even one or two of these maybes does not work out, then the Nets might not survive the play-in tournament.
L.A. Lakers
That’s right, the team with LeBron, AD, Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook is headed out of the playoffs at this point. Can you imagine the Lakers flipping a switch in a few weeks, and then LeBron finds his way back to controlling games, AD starts knocking down shots again, and Russell Westbrook stops telling us how he deserves to close games and starts closing games? The problem is that Westbrook sucks the oxygen out of the room on every team he has occupied. Yes, he helped get the Washington Wizards into the playoffs last year, but that run fizzled out, and now that he’s on a roster with elite players, he’s struggling again. Those struggles with chemistry won’t play well in the postseason, if the Lakers get there.
Chicago Bulls
Zach LaVine was on the shelf for almost half of January. Lonzo Ball has been gone for a month. Alex Caruso has been out for three weeks. However, the Bulls have gone 11-11 in their last 22 games without those key players, and luckily, no one else in the Eastern Conference has taken off to dislodge the Bulls from near the top of the standings. At the start of the season, Caruso and Ball stacked up turnovers and transition points, while DeMar DeRozan and LaVine turned the offense into a crack unit in the halfcourt game. The problem for the Bulls is that they will not have an answer for Joel Embiid or Giannis Antetokounmpo on defense. Can DeMar DeRozan carry this team through four rounds? Is Nikola Vucevic the sort of big man who can make tough contested shots in the playoffs, when referees tend to swallow their whistles and let the players play, especially in the paint? This could be a team that makes a run like Atlanta did in 2021, but it could also be a team that gets rolled in the first round.
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