NBA Finals 2017: Championship Odds and Predictions for Remaining Teams

Twenty-five teams down, four to go.

That's right. There are only four more eliminations to go before the 2017 NBA champions are crowned. And the five teams left are the Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors.

Vegas makes the favorite pretty clear, but you can never rule out chaos. Following the odds below, predictions for each of the remaining squads are laid out.

Team	Odds
Warriors	-300
Cavaliers	+250
Spurs	+1400
Celtics	+4000
Wizards	+5000

Wizards

The Celtics were so confident in their ability to close out their second-round series on the road that they wore all black to Game 6.

John Wall ruined the funeral procession by hitting a game-winning three:

He then called out the C's on their little stunt:

Riding the momentum of those final minutes of Game 6, Washington will come out hot in Game 7. But that flame won't burn hot all game. As has been the case all series, the Wizards' lack of depth will come back to bite them again on the road.

Washington lost three games in Boston by an average of 14.7 points. The series capper will be more competitive than that, but the Wizards cast their last spell in Game 6.

Celtics

In their three home wins in the conference semifinals, the Celtics have four players averaging at least 18 points and seven averaging at least seven. Their balance and depth will win out again.

Isaiah Thomas has been particularly explosive in Boston, averaging 34.7 points and 7.3 assists, while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three in home games this series.

One more monster performance could push IT closer to legend status, something he talked about following Game 6:

Behind Thomas, the deeper, higher-seeded team will seal this series at home.

Cavaliers

If there was an official designation beyond rest, the vacationing Cavs probably hit it days ago.

By the time the Eastern Conference Finals tip off Wednesday, Cleveland will have been off for nearly two weeks. It eliminated the Toronto Raptors back on May 7.

ESPN.com's Micah Adams broke down just how much rest the Cavs' star player, LeBron James, has had over the last month or so:

Cleveland may show a hint of rust in Game 1, but this fresh of a LeBron is about as much of a Goliath as the NBA can offer right now. And the Celtics' or the Wizards' version of David won't have enough stones to take him down.

The Cavs should win in four. But the safe bet is on at least one letdown before the Finals. Cleveland will get to the last round with a postseason record of 12-1.

Spurs

After finishing off the last two games of their second-round series with the Houston Rockets without Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs have gotten some good news on their star lately.

According to ESPN.com's Michael C. Wright, Kawhi's a go for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals:

Without him, San Antonio had almost no shot at pulling off the monumental upset. With him, well, the Spurs might get a game.

Leonard will be his typically dominant self (he's this postseason's leader in player efficiency rating, per Basketball Reference), but lumbering bigs LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol won't be able to keep up with Golden State's frontcourt.

Warriors

Golden State has steamrolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs. Among players with at least 50 postseason minutes, the Warriors have five of the top 14 in box plus-minus, per Basketball Reference.

And no matter how San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich configures and reconfigures his lineups, it's hard to imagine a situation where the Spurs can slow down all four members of Golden State's core.

If you put Kawhi on Kevin Durant, Draymond Green is free to tear LaMarcus Aldridge to pieces. Put Kawhi on Draymond and Danny Green on Durant, and you suddenly have a real problem covering Stephen Curry.

As good as the Spurs have been defensively all season, they'll finally be broken in the Western Conference Finals.