Nuggets are the Staker favorite — but not by much!

The Conference Finals are finally here! Just four teams remain in the hunt for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, so of course, we had to ask the Stakes app to see what the people think. Miami’s deficit is a little surprising, given Jimmy Butler’s record in the NBA Playoffs, but it’s hard to say the Stakers have a true favorite, because just three percentage points separate the Celtics, Lakers, and Nuggets!

It’s not surprising that Denver takes the cake, considering how convincingly they dispatched the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns in the first two rounds. But also considering that their overall championship odds (+125, according to BetMGM) translate to a 44% implied probability — and that the Lakers +800 odds to win the NBA Finals works out to just 11% — it feels a little low! And of course, you can’t count out Boston, given how often they’ve been here lately. Still, it looks like this might be the Nuggets’ year… Time to go back to Stakes to predict the rest of the playoffs, and every other sport out there!