We’re down to four teams left in the chase for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, presented to the champion of the National Basketball Association each year. In the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers have a 2-0 lead on the Denver Nuggets in the conference finals; in the East, the Miami Heat lead the Boston Celtics 2-1. Those best-of-seven series still have a long way to go, but those who thought the Lakers might be a little bit old and creaky (including this writer) have certainly learned their lesson.
Let’s take a look back at some of the biggest upsets and surprises that may have cost the NBA betting community some money during these playoffs.
NBA News:
Upsets and Surprises up to This Point
The Clippers got Knocked out by the Nuggets after building a 3-1 Lead
Denver actually came back from 3-1 deficits against both Utah and Denver to face the Lakers in the conference finals; no team had come back from 3-1 deficits more than once in the same postseason, and the toll definitely was visible in Game 1 of the Lakers series, as the Nuggets couldn’t match the Lakers’ energy.
But the Clippers were seen as the most complete team in the playoffs by a number of observers. They needed six games to knock out Dallas in the first round, but that had a lot to do with Paul George not finding his jump shot until Game 5 — and the transcendent heroics of Dallas’ Luka Doncic. The Clippers have Kawhi Leonard in addition to George. They have Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams, both of whom make a strong case for Sixth Man of the Year. Patrick Beverley was their shutdown defender.
So what happened? As Kevin Durant noted in an interview with Essentially Sports, the Clippers were not together on defense in the series against the Nuggets. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray were able to score at will, particularly in the last three games of the series, and the Clippers could not solve the problem. Anthony Davis is struggling with Jokic in the conference finals as well, but that combo of Jokic and Murray carried Denver past the Clippers.
The Rise of the Miami Heat
The Heat came into the playoffs with the fifth seed, and they swept Indiana and came within a game of sweeping top-seeded Milwaukee. They did become the first five-seed ever to go up 3-0 in a playoff series against a 1-seed in the history of the NBA. When the NBA resumed play in the Orlando “bubble,” the Heat had 33/1 odds of winning the championship, tenth best among the 22 remaining teams. Those odds have only improved since then.
The last time a five-seed made a conference final came in 2013, when Memphis advanced to face second-seeded San Antonio, only to get swept. Before that, you have to go all the way back to 2000 to find a five-seed making a conference final. Instead of getting swept by Boston, Miami jumped out to a 2-0 series lead, overcoming a 15-point deficit and a 14-point deficit in those two games, respectively, to win before falling to Boston in Game 3.
The mentoring that Jimmy Butler has delivered to a young Heat roster, keyed by Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, has been invaluable. The Heat are shooting 46.1 percent as a team and 38.7 percent from behind the arc. The offensive balance has been impressive, with six different players scoring in double figures on average throughout the postseason. Butler has led the team in scoring, but guard Goran Dragic has turned back the clock, shooting 42.9 percent from downtown. Adebayo is averaging over 15 points and 12 rebounds per game. Can the Heat beat Boston? Maybe. Can they beat the Lakers? Well, they made short work of the Bucks. Their ceiling is sky-high right now.
