2. Denver Nuggets
After coasting through much of the regular season, the Denver Nuggets flipped the switch toward the latter end of the season to secure the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference heading into the playoffs. After accomplishing that, the Nuggets will have homecourt all throughout the West playoffs. If any team is going to dethrone the defending champions before the NBA Finals, they'll likely have to do it on the road. Heading into the playoffs, with a relatively healthy roster, the Nuggets should feel good about their chances of winning their second championship.
Nikola Jokic is playing like the best player in the world and this supporting cast continues to prove that it is good enough to make another deep run. There may only be one team that has enough offensive firepower to take down the Nuggets, and Denver will not see them, if at all, until the NBA Finals.
There's a very real chance we could be on the verge of a Nuggets repeat attempt in the NBA Finals against the historically dominant Boston Celtics. If that does end up happening, I won't be complaining whatsoever.