by ASA, Inc.
Monday, Apr 03, 2023Warriors (+1300)
Currently 7th in the West, Golden State returns the same core that won the title last year and sits with the 6th highest odds to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy again. Andrew Wiggins has been out since mid February but his possible return for the playoffs makes the Warriors a nightmare for one of the top seeds. Road games have been their Achilles heel, posting a 9-29 record while they had a 21-19 record last year. Firepower is still the main reason for faith in Golden State, averaging the 2nd most points in the NBA (118.2ppg) and making the most 3s per game (16.5). They take the most 3s in the NBA per game but also rank 3rd in 3pt% due to Curry, Thompson, and Poole being lethal scorers. The Warriors have as good a chance as any to make it out of the West.
Dallas (+5000)
Luka and Kyrie need to make a late push to even make the playoffs currently, yet their pure talent has the ability to carry the Mavs to another deep playoff run. Dallas has been middle of the pack offensively and defensively, but if Luka (32.9ppg) and Kyrie (26.9ppg) can stay healthy, they are extremely dangerous. Dallas will have to rely on role players to convert open shots so look to Tim Hardaway Jr, Reggie Bullock, and Maxi Kleber to play big minutes come winning time. The Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Kings are all beatable unlike the top teams in the East.
Hawks (+25000)
Milwaukee and Boston seem to have a stranglehold in the East, both being top favorites to win the championship. That being said, Atlanta has the roster to hang with all the other teams in the East, and showed the ability to do so during their conference finals run in 2021. Just two years ago, they lost an intense series to the eventual champion Bucks. Maintaining a very similar roster and having the elite backcourt of Young and Murray makes them a tough out in the East. Hunter, Bogdanovic, Collins, Capela, and Bey all average double digit points giving the Hawks some great value this playoffs.
