Between the introduction of the NBA Cup and the play-in tournament, the NBA has given teams more opportunity to celebrate success during the grind of the regular season. Still, make no mistake: The NBA's best-of-seven playoffs is where the action means the most.
Because there are fewer series and matchups are so meaningful, we don't typically pick the entire NBA playoff bracket beforehand. But I'll be going series by series to identify how I think the postseason is most likely to play out. Naturally, there's a particular focus on what history can tell us about the first-round series that are already set, with an emphasis on what we can learn from regular-season meetings between the two teams and key matchups to watch.
In both conferences, there's a clear favorite, with the defending champion Boston Celtics seen as most likely to come out of the East despite being the No. 2 seed and an Oklahoma City Thunder team that finished 16 games atop the West separating from the pack. But there's still plenty of drama on the way to the Finals, including a few potential upsets. Let's break down the bracket.
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Eastern Conference
Western Conference
NBA Finals
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