Strengths & Question Marks of the 4 Teams with the best chance to win the NBA Title

Matty O'Shea
Senior Content Editor
matty@pregame.com

1. San Antonio Spurs (59-23 regular season)
Why Spurs are contenders: Built best for championship success, a much improved team over last year's squad that lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Spurs are a veteran team that has won it twice before and has all the pieces to do it again. The backbone of the team is leading scorer and rebounder Tim Duncan, who anchors the defense and is almost unstoppable offensively inside when healthy. Duncan missed 12 games toward the end of the regular season with a badly sprained right ankle and is still easing his way back into playoff shape. All-Star Manu Ginobili is the most lethal reserve in the playoffs and burned the Nuggets for 32 points in Game 3.

Question mark: Duncan's health. If Duncan fails to improve and get stronger, that obviously means the injury is lingering and could pose increasing problems down the stretch as the number of games wears on him. A young running team like Phoenix would pose the most problems for the Spurs if Duncan is not at full health.

2. Detroit Pistons (54-28)
Why Pistons are contenders: Defending NBA champions are a consummate T-E-A-M. The only real difference between the Pistons and Spurs is that they don't have a go-to player like Duncan to feed late when the game is on the line. Detroit plays outstanding defense and can match up with anybody thanks to an extremely versatile lineup. The hottest team in the league going into the playoffs has continued that fire against the 76ers, with a different leading scorer stepping up in each game of the series thus far. The Pistons also have great experience handling MVP candidate Shaquille O'Neal should they meet in the Eastern Conference Finals from last year's NBA Finals, when Detroit knocked off Shaq's Lakers 4-1.

Question mark: The "hunger" for repeating. Head coach Larry Brown waited a long time for his first NBA title and is well-known for being a master motivator capable of getting the very most out of his talent. If anybody can keep his team hungry, it's Brown. But that's not to say it still won't be the team's top challenge.

3. Phoenix Suns (62-20)
Why Suns are contenders: Offense and fearless attitude. The Suns have all the offensive guns to run any of the playoff teams out of the building, home or away. They led the league in scoring (110 points per game) and also owned the NBA's best road record at 31-10. In other words, they don't seem to be intimidated by anything or anyone. For Phoenix, youth is served more than any other team and could be dangerous.

Question marks: Defense and inexperience. As the playoffs wear on, defense plays a bigger and bigger role and style of play tends to dictate who survives and who disappears. The Suns gave up more points per game than any other team during the regular season (103.3) and their lack of experience in playoff situations could eventually cost them.

4. Miami Heat (59-23)
Why Heat are contenders: It’s hard betting against the best dynamic duo in the NBA with center Shaquille O'Neal and guard Dwyane Wade. It worked six times for Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls and three times for Shaq and Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers, all winning NBA championships. The Heat also have solid complementary players for their two superstars, though whether or not they are good enough will be tested throughout the playoffs.

Question mark: Shaq's dominance. O'Neal is definitely on the down-side of his career and proved in last year's NBA Finals that he's clearly not the same player he was when he led the Lakers to three championships in a row from 2000-2002. He has already shown some limitations in the first round this year after coming back from a thigh injury. Wade is already at the level of Bryant and is more of a team player, so his continued rise might be able to overcome Shaq's star falling back down to Earth.

That’s our early playoff look at the smartest gambles to win the 2005 NBA Title.

Current Payoffs for teams to win the NBA Title.

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Matty O'Shea - matty@pregame.com

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