What Teams Are Left in the NBA Playoffs?

The NBA playoffs are in full swing and there are only a few teams left fighting for the championship. Who are the favorites to win it all?

Eastern Conference

There are four teams remaining in the Eastern Conference playoffs: the Toronto Raptors, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Boston Celtics. The Raptors and Bucks are the top two seeds in the conference, while the Sixers are the third seed and the Celtics are the fourth seed.

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; the franchise has won the most championships in the NBA with 17, accounting for 23.9 percent of all NBA championships since the league’s founding in 1947.

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 founded in 1995 as part of the NBA’s expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. Since their inception, the Raptors have been the most successful of the three NBA teams to be based in Canada. They were regular playoff participants throughout the 2000s, but failed to make an appearance in the NBA Finals until 2019, when they defeated the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors in six games. Led by Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry, Toronto finished with an NBA-best record for the 2018–19 season and reached their maiden NBA Finals appearance during that campaign.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and play at the Fiserv Forum. former NBA MVPs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson played for the Bucks, and annexed star forwards Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker.

In 2018–19, under head coach Mike Budenholzer, the Bucks finished with the best regular-season record in the NBA at 60–22. They swept the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to the eventual champion Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games.

Western Conference

The Western Conference is loaded with talent and there are a lot of teams that can make a run at the NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors are the defending champions and they are the favorites to win the conference again. The Houston Rockets have the best record in the conference and they are led by MVP candidate James Harden. The Portland Trail Blazers are another team to watch out for.

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. The Warriors have won six NBA championships, dating back to 1947. The team’s home court is at the Oakland Coliseum.

Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets
After breezing through the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Houston Rockets will have their hands full in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Led by James Harden, who is averaging 32.5 points per game in the playoffs, the Rockets have been one of the best offensive teams in the postseason. They will need to be at their best against a Warriors team that finished with the best record in the NBA.

Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Northwest Division. The franchise was founded in 1970, and played its home games in Memorial Coliseum before moving to Moda Center in 1995 (called “Rose Garden” until 2013). The team has advanced to the NBA Finals three times, winning the NBA championship once in 1977. Their other NBA Finals appearances were in 1990 and 1992. The team has also enjoyed a strong following; from 1977 through 1995, the Blazers sold out 814 straight home games, the longest such streak in American major professional sports at the time, and only since surpassed by Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians (455 games) and NHL’s Boston Bruins (738 games).