The Golden State Warriors are -200 favorites to win the 2018 NBA Championship again this season and with the signing of center, DeMarcus Cousins, the Warriors have positioned themselves to break a lot of records this season. There have been crazier things to happen in the NBA than the favorite not winning the NBA Championship and there are three teams that I believe could challenge the Warriors for the championship one from the Warriors own conference in the West in the Houston Rockets and two from the conference in the East in the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers. We will look further in-depth of these three teams and we’ll start with the team out of the West in the Houston Rockets.
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are listed as 10:1 to win the NBA Championship and are ranked as the team with the 3rd best chance of winning the championship this season. The Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors met in the Western Conference Championship last season and the series went to a game 7. If not for the injury to Chris Paul the Rockets may have ended up knocking off the Warriors last season. The Rockets also have a star studded lineup with Chris Paul, James Harden and a player I believe is underrated at the center position in Clint Capella. Houston is the only team in the West I can foresee giving the Warriors any kind of trouble in the conference and they entered the playoffs last season as the 1 seed in the West.
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are listed as 6.5:1 to win the NBA Championship are the 2nd biggest favorite behind the Warriors to win the championship and are listed as 5:6 to win the Eastern Conference. The Celtics suffered a key injury in the 1st game of the regular season last year when Gordon Hayward went down with a gruesome ankle injury, but even with the injury the Celtics made the Eastern Conference finals and took the Cavaliers to a game 7 before losing. The Celtics are the clear favorites to win the East and with Hayward back healthy and Kyrie Irving at point guard they should make the playoffs and should be a heavy favorite to make the championship as long as everyone stays healthy.
Indiana Pacers
The last team that I think could challenge and make it to the NBA Championship is a dark horse and a long-shot according to Vegas as the Indiana Pacers are listed as 125:1 to win the NBA Championship and 25:1 to win the Eastern Conference. The Pacers are a young and talented team much like the Warriors were they first year they won the championship and they made the playoff last season before getting knocked out in the 1st round by the Cavaliers, but they did take Cleveland to a game 7. The Pacers have emerging star Victor Oladipo and 3rd year player Myles Turner who help to lead the Pacers into having one of the better defensive teams in the NBA.
The Warriors are the clear cut favorites to win the NBA Championship and rightfully so as they have a starting five that could all make the Olympic team, but as I stated before crazier things have happened in the NBA and a key injury or two could dethrone the Warriors as NBA champions and I could see either Houston, Boston or Indiana stepping up and winning it all if something like that were to happen.
