NBA Playoffs 2016: Updated Odds for Each Remaining Team to Win a Title

To bookies and erstwhile sports prognosticators, the NBA playoffs must be a breeze. Even with all that injuries can do to upset the apple cart (see: the Los Angeles Clippers), the Association’s postseason remains far and away the most predictable in major pro sports, at least at a macro level.

The top title contenders as determined by the regular season—the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs out West, the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East—have largely held true to form since the field was reduced to 16 teams. The Warriors aren’t quite the runaway favorite without the injured Stephen Curry, but they have more than held the fort in his absence.

There may yet be challengers to the presumed order of things in the league, if the Oklahoma City Thunder, Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors have anything to say about it. For the most part, though, there don’t figure to be any shockers within the bigger picture—nothing more stunning than the Portland Trail Blazers’ serendipitous survival into the second round, anyway. 

Their odds of climbing out of a 0-2 hole against the defending champs, much less winning it all, are slim. Here’s what Odds Shark has to say about how likely each of the NBA’s Elite Eight is to come away with the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy in June.

 

Portland Trail Blazers: 250-1

The Golden State Warriors gave the Portland Trail Blazers as generous of a head start in Game 2 as any visitor to Oracle Arena could have asked for.

No Stephen Curry. A cold Klay Thompson. A red-hot Damian Lillard after halftime. A 17-point second-quarter lead.

Even that wasn’t enough of a cushion for the Blazers to steal one in Oakland. By the middle of the fourth quarter, the game was tied. By the end, Portland had punted away a 110-99 defeat and, perhaps, any hope of upending the defending champs along with it.

“Nights like tonight, they suck,” Lillard said afterward, per the Oregonian’s Joe Freeman. “It hurts to go back in the locker room after you play so well for so long and you come back in there with the (loss). But it is a part of growth. The entire season has been growth for us. But…we have to close that out, we have to get that done. It was just a missed opportunity.”

There won’t be many chances better than that for the Blazers. Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters Thursday that Curry “will probably not” play in the next contest, though the MVP himself claims he could be back for Game 3 on Saturday.

Either way, the clock is ticking on Portland’s Cinderella run.

 

Atlanta Hawks: 250-1

The odds have swung decisively against the Atlanta Hawks of late, and for good reason. 

In Game 1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Hawks climbed out of an 18-point hole, only to fall right back in by the end of a 104-93 loss. Atlanta’s collapse continued in Game 2, courtesy of Cleveland’s record-setting 25 three-pointers in a 123-98 victory that wasn’t even that close.

“I’m a man who believes anything is possible,” Paul Millsap said, per ESPN.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “And the impossible happened tonight.”

Atlanta erasing its 0-2 series deficit at this point might be as improbable as Cleveland’s three-point barrage was. The Hawks have dropped nine in a row to the Cavs dating back to last year’s Eastern Conference Finals.

Atlanta’s fortunes could change with a return to Philips Arena. They’ll have to in a hurry if the Hawks are to avoid suffering a second sweep in as many seasons at the hands of LeBron James and Co.

“They won two at their place, and it is time for us to win two at our place,” Millsap said. “That has to be the mindset of the team. We have no choice right now. It is do or die.” 

 

Toronto Raptors: 75-1

If Rodney Dangerfield were alive today, he’d probably be a Toronto Raptors fan. Even after (finally) surviving a first-round scare, Canada’s team can’t seem to get any respect, be it from bookies or prospective opponents.

James’ remarks about potentially facing Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals made their way, courtesy of the media, to Raptors coach Dwane Casey.

“Well that’s fine, and I said this before: Nobody respects us, everybody has written us off, and that’s fine,” Casey told reporters Wednesday, per TSN (via Fox Sports’ Jovan Buha). “Hopefully our guys take that to heart and take offense to it.”

What they really should take offense to is Kyle Lowry’s shooting. The …

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