The NBA's "Spring Basketball" will feature 16 teams, more than half of the total 30 clubs, and each series will be held in a four-win seven-game series until June, the early summer.
All 16 teams for PO have not been confirmed yet.
The winner of the Miami Heat-Chicago Bulls and the New Orleans Pelicans-Sacramento Kings match on the 20th will be the final ticket to the PO.
The winner of the Miami-Chicago game will play the Eastern Conference No. 1 Boston Celtics in the first round, while the winner of the New Orleans-Sacramento game will face the Western No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder.
This year's NBA PO will begin at 2 a.m. on the 21st with a first-round Eastern game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic.
The strongest favorite in the NBA this season is Boston.
Boston, which recorded 64 wins and 18 losses in the regular season, is the only team in the league that has posted more than 60 wins. It has a whopping 14 games gap with the New York Knicks (50 wins and 32 losses), who are ranked second in the East.
Boston, where Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown are at the core of their power, has a good balance of offense and defense, with an average difference of 11.4 points this season, which is also the only one to exceed 10 points.
If Boston wins the title for the first time in 16 years since 2008, it will overtake the Los Angeles Lakers (17 times) to become the lone winner of the NBA championship.
Los Angeles Lakers, led by "King" LeBron James, also successfully advanced to the PO. However, their opponent in the first round was the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
The Los Angeles Lakers have recently lost eight consecutive games against Denver, losing all four games to Denver in the Western finals last season and losing all three games in the regular league this season.
Denver, which beat Miami 4-1 to win the championship title last season, is aiming for its second consecutive championship. The Golden State Warriors won the championship title for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018.
Golden State, with Stephen Curry at the forefront, reached the play-in tournament in 10th place in the regular league this year, but failed to advance to the PO after losing 94-118 to Sacramento.
Denver, led by "Serbia Express" Nikola Jokic, will play the second round against the Minnesota Timberwolves-Pinix Suns winner if they pass the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Denver is somewhat dominant in objective power, but basketball fans are expected to pay a lot of attention to the game between Denver and the Los Angeles Lakers, where Jokic and James collide head-on.
In the East, the first round of the Philadelphia 76ers, where second-ranked "popular national team" New York and Joel Embiid returned from injury, is considered the "big card."/Yonhap News
BY: 토토
