Stakers Take On The NBA Playoffs

We’re a half-round deep into the NBA playoffs, and Stakers have OPINIONS! The first round hasn’t been quite as thrilling as last week’s play-in tournament, but we’ll get there soon enough. These have the potential to be some of the most evenly-matched playoffs we’ve ever seen, especially the Wild Wild West. One of the most surprising numbers we’ve seen so far? Despite a long tradition of 7 & 8 seeds having virtually no chance in the NBA playoffs, almost 2/3 of Stakers predicted that at least one of the four play-in teams to make the playoffs would pull off the upset and advance to the second round:

Given the bias that we uncovered last week, it’s hard to not think that this has everything to do with the Lakers and their rabid fans. But when it comes to the other major metropolis with two playoff teams going at it, things are quite a bit more even. Although the Nets might be more popular than the Knicks among Stakers — more than 2,400 of you have the Nets listed as a favorite team, more than twice as many as the Knicks — it’s probably not super surprising that the picks are leaning towards the Knicks. Even though they only finished two games better than Brooklyn, the Nets were just 12-15 after trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. The Knicks might still have the assets for a deep playoff run. The Nets? Not so much.

Also following up on last week’s picks, it’s no surprise that Stakers are much more confident in Milwaukee’s chances at the Finals than Denver’s, despite both of them being on top of their respective conferences. Nearly 70% of Stakers think the Bucks are a lock for the Finals, but more than half of you think Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets will fall before they have the chance to meet the beasts of the East.

Speaking of Jokić, it also seems like Stakers have soured on his NBA chances after being in the driver’s seat for most of the season. Even though he came just two-tenths of an assist away from being the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double over a full season, Joel Embiid’s wild charge at his second straight scoring title to end the season seems to have been convincing. Somewhat surprisingly, an equal number of Stakers think Giannis Antetokounmpo will take home the award as Jokić, despite the big man beating him soundly in assist totals with equal rebounding on much less usage that the Greek Freak.

Will the Stakers’ predictions age well? We’re just a few weeks away from finding out! There are plenty more questions to come before the end of the season — visit Stakes to get your picks in now!