2024/25 NBA Season: On the stretch run

The 2024/25 National Basketball Association (NBA) had its trade deadline earlier in February, which saw the completion of a few league-bending trades (particularly in the Western Conference), and the All-Star break took place last weekend, to include the first-ever tournament format for the All-Star Game. And with all that in the rearview, and each team having about 28 games of their 82-game slate left to play, the business end of the season kicked off on Wednesday night when the Charlotte Hornets visited Crypto.com Arena to take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

With about seven weeks remaining in the regular season, the sprint to the finish is expected to be frantic, with teams fighting to be the top seeds in each conference. Coming out of the break, the Cleveland Cavaliers head the table in the Eastern Conference, while the Oklahoma City Thunder is leading in the West, but history has proven that it’s not how a team starts that counts, it is who is left standing at the end. The first hurdle is to get into the playoffs, then to display the resilience required to stay the course.

In the last two seasons, No 5, No 6, No 7 and No 8 seeds have made their way to the conference finals, displaying some level of parity in the league and providing some enthralling underdog stories. Defending champion Boston Celtics are currently No 2 in the Eastern Conference, and along with the New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, and the Lakers, all have winning percentages over .600, which almost automatically puts them in the postseason, because 132 of the last 133 teams with that record at the All-Star break have made the play-offs.

At the other end of the spectrum, over the last 20 seasons, 98.8 per cent of the teams that have winning percentages under .400 at the All-Star break, end up missing the playoffs altogether. If this season runs true to that form, the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans and Washington Wizards have already been eliminated from playoff contention. Therefore, based on the numbers and from a historical perspective, seven teams are in, seven teams are out, and 16 teams remain in the middle of the mix, fighting for the last nine playoff spots - five to be clinched on or before the end of the regular season, and four others to be decided via the play-in tournament.

That said, these last 28 games are critical for all playoff aspirants and every advantage must be taken to keep or improve playoff positioning. This weekend’s offering includes 24 games and promises end-to-end action throughout, including the Eastern Conference leading Cavaliers welcoming the Knicks into Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse this evening. The Cavaliers have been very impressive this season on the strength of a 15-0 start, which is tied for the second-best start in franchise history. Their 25-4 home record is only bettered by the Thunder (25-3) so the Knicks will need to bring their A-game if a win is in the cards.

Cleveland came out at the better end of their last encounter in October 2024, 110-104, in the midst of that undefeated run, but the New York team have found solid footing with Karl-Anthony Towns partnering with Jalen Brunson and are a formidable foe against the talents of Donavon Mitchell and a very rounded Cavaliers team. This should live up to the price of admission, but the home team is expected to prevail.

The highlight tomorrow, Saturday, will see the Lakers visiting the Nuggets, in a battle between two of the top six teams in the Western Conference. These teams last met in November last year where the Lakers were big 127-102 winners, and a lot has happened since then. No major trade moves were made by Denver before the deadline, but Los Angeles traded Anthony Davis for Luca Doncic, and it appears the Lakers have a renewed zest. There’s no telling what will happen here, but this should be entertaining.

The 10-game slate on Sunday is bookended by two highly anticipated encounters: the Knicks vs the Celtics, and the Thunder vs the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Knicks and Celtics have already met twice this season, with Boston winning both contests by wide margins: 132-109 last October and 131-104 earlier this month. Boston has been New York’s basketball nightmare over the last couple of seasons and if the Knicks want to be considered bona fide title contenders, they need to convince on Sunday afternoon. This will be a tall ask of New York, following on the colossal Friday night encounter against Cleveland, but if you’re to be the best, you have to beat the best. Expect a dogfight but the Celtics should prevail in TD Garden.

The Timberwolves currently sit in the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference, just outside the automatic postseason qualifiers, and they welcome the West-leading Thunder into Target Center on Sunday night for an anticipated western showdown. In the two meetings this season, these teams have shared the spoils, with Oklahoma City winning in December and Minnesota winning last week, just before All-Star weekend. The Timberwolves still have Anthony Edwards but have lost the scoring and physical presence of Towns, who went to the Knicks in the off-season, leaving a noticeable gap in their overall effectiveness.

The league’s leading scorer so far this season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has the Oklahoma City engine running on turbo and the pieces around him appear to fit perfectly — guard Isaiah Joe has been overperforming since the start of 2025, and guard Aaron Wiggins has been a scoring machine since the start of February, plus the return of Chet Holmgren will not only see more scoring, his presence helps take defenders off of others and frees the lanes for the Thunder’s drive and cut style. This one may be too much for Minnesota to handle but rest assured they are going to put up a fight and maybe pull off an upset.

The NBA season started last October but the stretch run begins now, and even the teams who have been written off for the rest of the season will have some say in the matter. There’s a lot on offer this weekend, beginning tonight, and every game can make a difference in the final standings.

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NBA 2024/25 Champion

Team Odds

Boston Celtics 3.10

Oklahoma City Thunder 3.25

Cleveland Cavaliers 9.00

New York Knicks 13.00

Denver Nuggets 15.00

Los Angeles Lakers 17.00

Milwaukee Bucks 30.00

Memphis Grizzlies 30.00

LA Clippers 40.00

Golden State Warriors 45.00

*Only top 10 odds shown (see website for full list).

Note: Odds are subject to change.