With the Eastern Conference Finals set to kick off this weekend, there are almost too many subplots to dig into. There’s the battle between MVPs – the guy who won and the guy many thought should’ve won. There’s the battle of good vs. evil; Miami is the new generation, overhyped and overloaded with ego while the Bulls are from the old school. Neither city likes the other, and both couldn’t be more different. The series is shaping up to be a classic.
Everyone has their own expectations for the NBA’s Final Four. So do we. But no matter the odds, expect the Eastern Conference Finals to be one of the most exciting conference series of the past few years.
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Odds that every game will be close: 1 to 3
Odds that Carlos Boozer will show up: 5 to 2
Odds that Luol Deng will score a basket on something other than a standstill jumper or a straight-line drive: 6 to 5
Odds that Deng will outscore LeBron in a game: 8 to 2
Odds that Dick Stockton talks about the great play of David Rose: 1 to 7
Odds that Brian Scalabrine plays: 0 to 0
Odds that Dwyane Wade will make at least one insanely ridiculous no-look shot in the lane: 5 to 1
Odds that Chris Bosh will disappear: 3 to 2
Odds that we will hear the storyline of “Rose and Bron/Wade could’ve been teammates this summer”: 4 to 7
Odds that we’ll constantly hear about the NBA being rigged: 4 to 9
Odds that Eddy Curry wishes he didn’t let go: 2 to 9
Odds that LeBron makes a game-winner: 6 to 3
Odds that LeBron misses a game-winner: 5 to 4
Odds that Brian Scalabrine makes a game-winner: 0 to 0
Odds that Michael Beasley is sitting at home shaking his head while strangling his Ricky Rubio bobble-head: 5 to 4
Odds that we’ll get more than one Michael Jordan reference per game: 3 to 9
Odds that Juwan Howard and Kurt Thomas get into it at some point over some 1990s beef: 4 to 5
Odds that the crowds will make a difference: 5 to 2
Odds that Wade will wear another terrible sweater during a postgame press conference: 6 to 8
Odds that Joakim Noah will frighten a small child sitting courtside: 5 to 1
Odds that Chicago’s defense locks up Miami’s Big Three at least once: 4 to 2
Odds that Brian Scalabrine talks to his teammates about his “playoff experience”: 5 to 3
Odds that Mario Chalmers for Miami or Kyle Korver for Chicago wins one game with a crazy performance: 7 to 3
Odds that David Stern‘s heart flutters when talk of Miami in the Finals occurs: 1 to 4
Odds that Vinny Del Negro is taking notes: 9 to 1
Odds that Rose has a couple of huge fourth quarters: 6 to 5
Odds that Ben Gordon is watching, telling everyone who comes by that he could drop 30 a game in this series: 8 to 4
Odds that Brian Scalabrine’s name gets chanted in Chicago: 1 to 1
Odds that the Miami Heat will win: 5 to 4
Odds that the Chicago Bulls will win: 6 to 3
Odds that the winner will win the NBA title: 3 to 5
Odds that this is the best series in the playoffs this year: 3 to 4
Which team should be considered the favorite in this series? Miami or Chicago?
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