TBT: NBA Playoffs- Road to the finals

We are now 9 days away from the beginning of the long awaited post-season. The defending champion, the San Antonio Spurs, will have to face such a risky competition in order to secure what would be their first back-to-back title in the franchise history. Houston (53-25), Memphis (53-25) , Portland (51-27) and obviously the team who earn the best record in the entire NBA, the Golden State Warriors (63-15), are among the contenders able to win the NBA championship at the end of the season. 

The Western Conference is just crazy deep this year. Naturally, you should be able to say which team is going to make a run into the playoffs toward the NBA finals. I said naturally. The west is a mess of really good team. As a fan, we get to see Western Conference match-up almost on a nightly basis. Just have a look at how deeper the race to the Western Conference playoffs is:

Only the first eight are going into the Playoffs

In the Eastern Conference though, the situation is way different. Regarded as the weakest conference since years, the race to the Eastern Conference finals looks like a 2 way battle between the best team in the East this season , The Hawks d 'Atlanta (59-19) and the rising Cavaliers , leading by the fourth time MVP Lebron James (51-27). The Bulls (46-32) will need a healthy Derrick Rose to make a push in the Playoffs, but it remains unlikely to see the Bulls going to the Finals.


But we never know. We never know what's going to happen. That's what the NBA slogan is : Where amazing happens. Who could have predicted that the Spurs, who failed in 2013 to bring the title to San Antonio (we're thinking about you, Ray), would win the title the next year against the same Heat team, and win the title the way they did, in producing one of the best and astonishing display in the NBA history? And who could have predicted this happens...?

The road to the finals is wide open. Every team, from the spot 1 to the spot 8 might be the one. It's big time around the corner. It's time to shine. Quite frankly, I can't wait for the playoffs to start...