That sound of silence is the first day in some time the NBA didn't have a high-stakes competition on the horizon, a much-needed exhale before the Finals begin in two days.
LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 22: Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets reacts to picking up a foul during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets' 113-111 Western Conference finals game 4 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Monday, May 22, 2023. The Nuggets swept the best-of-seven series 4-0 to advance to their first NBA Finals in franchise history.
Their playoff run has been one for the ages to this point; not just an eighth seed that had to battle to get out of the play-in after a loss to Atlanta, but beating arguably the two best teams in the league on their road to June. Short of the 1995 Houston Rockets, a sixth seed on the way to a repeat, one would be hard-pressed to find a tougher road.
For years after playoff expansion in 1984, the call was that upsets were few and far between, and once the first round expanded to seven games in 2003, that felt even less likely. The critics who didn’t believe they could make it through the treacherous West have had to eat their words since, same with those who’ve derisively poked fun at “Heat Culture.” Miami wasn’t the top seed like last year, but there was an appropriate approach.
Usually, there are fewer than a handful of teams with realistic champagne dreams, while a dozen others fool themselves.That, my friends, is called parity — an elusive quality the NBA says it wants but we’re not actually sure we believe it, simply because the league doesn’t know how the public will react to it.
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