With the first round of the playoffs over, the field of contenders has been narrowed from 16 to eight. This first set of eliminations is where things start to get serious. Any of the eight teams that are left has a solid chance of making it to the final rounds.

There have been plenty of upsets this season, with the Lakers, a perennial favorite, losing momentum — and fan support — early on. Both conferences have looked strong this year though, making it harder to predict who the overall winner will be.

While the Super Bowl might be the betting event of the year, betting on the NBA is just as exciting even if it doesn’t get as much attention. A bookmaker guide will point you in the direction of the best sportsbooks for your NBA betting needs, including bookmakers that offer accumulator bets.

Usually, we can count on at least one of the favorites getting knocked out in the first round and narrowing the field a bit to make things easier on the bettors. This year, it looks like all the expected contenders have made it through.

With such a hot competition heading into the conference finals, here are our top picks for teams that look likely to make it all the way.

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics and the Bucks had almost identical records this year, so it’s no surprise that both teams are in the playoffs. With the two facing off against each other in the Conference Semi-Finals, only one can make it to the next round, and it seems obvious that whichever team it is will be in the final.

The Celtics are one of the teams that built momentum as the regular season went along. They might not have looked promising back in October, but by January they had completely turned things around and were looking great.

The Celtics had the best defense in the NBA during the regular season – making them a formidable opponent. Coupled with the scoring power of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s ability to steal the ball, they’re going to be very hard to beat.

Golden State Warriors From 2014 to 2018, the Golden State Warriors were nearly unstoppable. They made it to the Championship game every year and won three of their five appearances. They had star power and great team chemistry. It’s probably the end of that era, but this could be one more chance to really shine.

The Golden State Warriors are the only team in the Western Conference to have finished the first round in only five games. That might seem like a small thing, but it’s the kind of confidence boost that can carry a team through the challenges ahead.

The one worry for the Warriors is that they haven’t had the best of luck against the Memphis Grizzlies this season — they lost three of their four regular season meetings. They’ll need to work hard to not let that effect the way they play.

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns finished the regular season at the top of the Western Conference. With 64 wins to 18 losses, they were miles ahead of their competition across both conferences. That’s an amazing turnaround from the 2018-19 season, where the Suns finished with an almost identically opposite record of 19-63.

In the last three years, the Suns have been working their way to the top and all that hard work looks set to pay off. While some pundits have argued that they’ve improved too much too quickly, this mainly sounds like the complaint of someone who didn’t see this level of success coming.

Much of the Suns success comes from the depth of their bench, as Morten Jensen has argued. By building an entire team full of talent, instead of just focusing on a few star starters and having everyone else as their support system, the Suns have created a balanced team that seems like it never tires out.

They’ll be facing the Dallas Mavericks in the next round. While the Mavericks did finish the season on a high with a 4-win streak, they seem unlikely to be able to handle the power and energy the Suns will bring.

Milwaukee Bucks While the Suns are a team that is built around the bench, the Milwaukee Bucks are built around their star players. With Giannis Antetokounmpo on the team, it’s easy to see why. Having the best player in the world on your team makes it impossible not to feature him and use his talents to their fullest extent.

The Bucks are the current reigning champions, having surprised the world and swept through the playoffs like a tornado last year. Little has changed about the team, yet somehow, many people still don’t see them as serious contenders.

Besides their star roster, one of the major points in the Bucks favor is that the team has championship experience. They were there only a year ago and have seen that they can triumph under that level of pressure. That creates a lot of trust between players and can have a huge impact on how they play.

Unfortunately for the Bucks, one of their other star players Khris Middleton suffered a medial collateral knee ligament (MCL) sprain during Game 2 against the Bulls. He will be out for their entire series against the Celtics and possibly for the rest of the finals if they make it all the way.

The NBA playoffs are almost always filled with exciting moments, whether they’re demonstrations of talent on the court or explosions of personality or fan freak outs. With teams that are so full of talented players and well matched, this year’s Final could be one for the record books.

Now we just need to wait and see who’s going to make it there.