It is crunch time in the NBA right now. The regular season has finished and the final candidates for the playoffs have been decided. With all the teams doubling their efforts to make the NBA Finals, which is scheduled to start on 3rd June, the business end of the season is set to deliver some thrilling action.
A host of teams that have lifted the famous Larry O’Brien trophy make up the playoff candidates, but which teams in particular have been making headlines?
Road to Recovery
For a team that has won the NBA Finals three times in the last decade, with two losses in that period, the Golden State Warriors are making hard work of adding to their seven titles. It is fair to say that The Warriors have been off the pace since their most recent success in 2022. The overreliance on Steph Curry has been a regular talking point for years already and that sentiment was fueled in the recent win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Curry edged the Warriors over the line after a brief period in the locker room, and the team will continue to rely on Curry to restore the glory days. The question is though: how much longer can Curry keep carrying the Warriors?
Back the Favorites
For the reigning champions, they simply picked up where they left off in 2025. The San Antonio Spurs pushed them all the way in the Western Conference, but Oklahoma City Thunder eventually secured top spot. The team powered by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are favorites once again with basketball betting at 1Bet and it is difficult to look past them.
Thunder even had the luxury of resting Gilgeous-Alexander for the final two regular season games. Minus the two games without SG-A, Thunder has lodged seven straight wins. Should they make the NBA Finals again, they will be hoping for a more comfortable series win.
Conference Topping Underdogs
While Thunder has locked out the Western Conference in the past three seasons, it has been a different story over on the East side. Slightly against the odds, the Detroit Pistons secured top spot to crown a remarkable rise over the last six regular seasons. Only as recently as the 2020-21 season, the Pistons were languishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They improved one place higher in the following season before sinking to the bottom again for the next two.
However, a change of approach, mainly on the recruiting front, fired the Pistons up the table to sixth in 2024-25. And the transition was complete as Detroit topped the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2006-07. But despite winning the Conference, the Pistons are still considered underdogs to lift the trophy. Cade Cunningham will want to prove doubters wrong and complete a fairytale comeback in the NBA for Detroit.
Two Busy Months Ahead
Despite Oklahoma leading the way in the betting markets, San Antonio, the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, and Cleveland Cavaliers will want to change the script. Winners in the recent past also include the Toronto Raptors, who will need a lot to go their way to upset the odds. And it is not just the Warriors looking to restore glory days. The Los Angeles Lakers are still desperate to draw level with the Celtics on 18 titles. For basketball fans worldwide, it is time to strap yourselves in.
