What Teams Are In The Nba Finals?

The NBA Finals are upon us! Here’s a look at the two teams that will be battling it out for the championship.

Eastern Conference

As of June 12th, 2020, the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors are in the lead for the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bucks have a 63.5 percent chance of winning, while the Raptors have a 36.5 percent chance.

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are an American professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of the league’s original eight teams, the team play their home games at TD Garden, which they share with the National Hockey League (NHL)’s Boston Bruins. The Celtics are one of the most successful teams in NBA history; they have won the most championships of any franchise in the NBA with 17, and currently hold the record for the most recorded wins of any NBA team with 3,485.

Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member club of the league’s Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA’s expansion into Canada. When the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, Tennessee to become the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, the Raptors became the only Canadian-based team in the NBA. They originally played their home games at the SkyDome (since renamed Rogers Centre), before moving eastward along Bremner Boulevard to Scotiabank Arena (formerly Air Canada Centre) in 1999. Like most expansion teams, much of early success came from building through the NBA draft and they acquired players such as Damon Stoudamire, Wendell Carter Jr., Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Chris Bosh and Kyle Lowry as they began play.

Western Conference

The Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and Houston Rockets are in the Western Conference. The Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, and Memphis Grizzlies are in the playoffs.

Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, the Warriors relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1962 and took the city’s name, before changing its geographic moniker to Golden State in 1971. They play their home games at the Chase Center.

The Warriors won the inaugural Basketball Association of America (BAA) championship in 1947, and won its second championship in 1956, led by star players Paul Arizin and Neil Johnston. However, the Warriors would not return to similar levels of success for over 40 years; they reached the 1967 NBA Finals, losing to Chamberlain’s Philadelphia 76ers but then went into another period of mediocrity until they drafted Rick Barry out of college in 1965.

The team had almost reached bankruptcy during this time though they were saved by majority owner Peter Arundell with fresh capital from Franklin Mieuli who then became a minority shareholder. The team struggled over the next 15 years before reaching playoff prominence under coach George Karl and star power forward Chris Webber calling themselves Run TMC (a reference to their three marquee players Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Webber). The team reached another peak with a runner up stint behind Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers during almost winning back-to-back Finals which was only stopped due to Michael Jordan’s retirement for a second time followed by an lockout that shortened the 1998–99 season depriving them any chance for success.

Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are a professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league’s Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home games at the Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston. The Rockets have won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles. The team was established as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego, in 1967. In 1971, the Rockets moved to Houston.

The Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets, picking first overall, selected power forward Elvin Hayes, who would lead the team to its first playoff appearance in his rookie campaign. The Rockets did not advance past the first round of the playoffs during their time in San Diego; however, they did make it to the second round for the first time after moving to Houston in 1971-1972 under new head coach Tex Winter. Led by Hayes and guard John Lucas IIIAustin’s attempt to rebuild through the draft following consecutive seasons of tanking[1] resulted in some success with players such as Rudy Gobert (2013) and Donovan Mitchell (2017). In 2012–13, Trey Burke was named co-Rookie of the Year alongside Philadelphia’s Michael Carter-Williams.[2] Gobert was again named Defensive Player of the Year while Mitchell captured Rookie of they year honors that season.[3][4] In 2019–20, Gobert became just he second player ever to be named Defensive Player of they year three times—joining Ben Wallace—while also becoming just this third player ever to make five All-Defensive teams.[5][6][7]