It’s been a decade since the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA title. The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers never won it. Meanwhile, the Toronto Raptors will win championships in consecutive years.
There’s a lot of festival for this year’s NBA title, and any of the other groups (or any of the other groups in the 16-team playoffs) can end this unorthodox season celebrating with the Larry O’Brien Trophy. On Monday, the road to getting there begins when the NBA playoffs begin at Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.
The diversity of the playoffs is still absolutely completed, as the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies face off in a Western Conference entry game on Saturday. And if the Grizzlies win, the groups will have to play again on Sunday, because Memphis is the 9th seed, and the winner of this game would advance. Portland would move on with only one victory as the eighth seed.
After a review of the NBA playoff schedule and upcoming games, we’ll discuss the contenders to finish this season by winning the NBA title.
NBA playoff schedule
August 15: Western Conference Entry (Portland Trail Blazers vs Memphis Grizzlies), 2:30 pm ET on ABC
August 16: Second Western Conference entry game, 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN (if Memphis wins Saturday)
August 17: Start of the first of the playoffs
August 31: Deadline for convention semi-finals
September 15: Deadline for convention finals
September 30: Target date of the NBA Finals
October 13: Last Date Imaginable for Last NBA Finals Game
Next first-round program
Monday, August 17
Game 1: No. 6 Utah Jazz vs. No. Denver Nuggets, 1:0 p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 1: No. 7 Brooklyn Nets vs. No. 2 Toronto Raptors, p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 1: No. 6 Philadelphia 76ers vs. No. Boston Celtics, 6:0 p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 1: No. 7 Dallas Mavericks vs. No. 2 Los Angeles Clippers, nine p.m. ET, ESPN
Tuesday, August 18
Game 1: No. Orlando Magic at No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks, 1:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Game 1: Five Miami Heat vs. No. Four Indiana Pacers, Four p.m. ET, TNT
Game 1: Five Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Houston Rockets No. 4, 6:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Game 1: No. 8 Portland Trail Blazers / Memphis Grizzlies at No. 1 Los Angeles Lakers, nine p.m. ET, TNT
The full programme of the first circular will be available in NBA.com. Games broadcast by ESPN and ABC can be broadcast on ESPN. Games streamed on TNT can be streamed on Watch TNT.
Best NBA name aspiring
los Angeles Lakers
From 2000 to 2010, the Lakers won seven NBA titles, adding three consecutive titles from 2008 to 2010 to end that era of dominance. But they haven’t won a championship since, and this will be their first playoff appearance since 2013.
With LeBron James and Anthony Davis at the helm, Los Angeles is well placed to end this championship drought for the franchise. The Lakers have won 52 regular-season games, their highest number since 2010-11, despite a 3-5 record in their rating games after entering the NBA bubble.
However, Los Angeles had almost secured the No. 1 seed at the time. Now what’s in play will be much bigger, with its first-round playoff series opposite Portland or Memphis.
“I don’t think our team is there personally, but we will be,” said James, according to Erik Garcia Gundersen of Lebron Wire. “It’s another kind of mindset you want to be in, but you don’t want to get there before you get there because it takes a lot. A lot of power and a lot of effort.”
James succeeded in the NBA Finals eight years in a row from 2010 to 18, when he was with the Heat and the Cavaliers, so he knows what it takes to succeed on stage. It wouldn’t be unexpected to see him take the Lakers to this point this season.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers never won the NBA title, they didn’t even make it to the NBA Finals. In fact, they never made it to the convention finals, wasting on the first or circular of the playoffs.
However, things are different for Los Angeles now, as Kawhi Leonard and Paul George joined the team in the last off-season. That gives the Clippers a couple of superstar players to lead the way, and Leonard really knows what it takes to get to the playoffs after taking the Raptors to their first NBA name last year and winning the NBA Finals MVP.
Los Angeles was 49-23 in the normal season, securing second place in the Western Conference by winning 4 of their last five rating games. They’ll be looking to maintain that momentum in their first-round playoff series opposite the Mavericks.
“I’m confident. Our organization is confident,” said George, according to OHm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “There is nothing doubtful. It’s an equivalent game box [in the bubble].”
Of course, the Clippers would possibly have to face the Lakers if they hope to succeed in the NBA Finals. And if that game gets to fruition and Los Angeles rivals play in the convention finals, it’s going to be one of the most productive postseason series.
Bucks de Milwaukee
Although the Bucks lost in the Eastern Conference finals last season, they are the favorites to make up the East in this year’s NBA Finals. Milwaukee had an NBA record of 56-17 in the regular season.
The Bucks would possibly have had a 3-6 mark in their qualifying games, but they didn’t have much at stake, as almost everyone had been ranked No. 1 when the game resumed. With the start of the playoffs, current NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo holds Milwaukee in a championship-setting position.
And while the Bucks’ recent game probably wouldn’t have been great, something positive for the team.
“The 16 boys, unless adjustments are made between now and the beginning, are healthy and available,” said Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer, according to Matt Velázquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “It’s obviously very vital and vital in the playoffs and it was a precedent for us to come here.”
The Bucks will win the NBA moment in franchise history and the first since 1971.
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