The Eastern Conference playoffs are going to be pure chaos. All of the top teams are stylistically different. There are superstars up and down the standings. Upstarts who can throw a wrench into the proceedings. A loaded play-in field. And this is all before you consider arguably the most talented team at full strength (the Nets) may not even qualify for the postseason because their second-best player could possibly be ineligible to play for the team’s most important games. The first round in the East should be absolutely thrilling, and sorting out the favorite to make the Finals is a fool’s errand. So let’s do exactly that!
Here are the five teams I think are most likely to make the Finals, ranked from least to most likely. This is based on almost nothing except entirely my gut feeling. If that’s a problem for you, things will only get more infuriating from here. Here we go!
