NBA Playoffs 2019: Updated Conference Brackets, Postseason Records and Odds
The Golden State Warriors enter the conference finals round of the 2019 NBA playoffs as the favorite to win their third straight championship.
The Warriors come into the Western Conference Final against Portland off a pair of 4-2 series victories over the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets.
Portland was one of four teams to open the playoffs with a 4-1 first-round series win, but it needed seven games to get past Denver in the second round.
The most dominant team of the postseason resides in the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee went 8-1 against Detroit and Boston and now faces a Toronto team that outlasted Philadelphia over seven games in the second round.
Golden State is the only team left with championship experience, as it has been to the last four NBA Finals.
Milwaukee and Portland have been to five combined NBA Finals in their history, and Toronto has never made it to the championship series.
Updated Playoff Bracket
Eastern Conference
(1) Milwaukee vs. (2) Toronto
Western Conference
(1) Golden State vs. (3) Portland
Conference Finals Odds
Warriors To Start Series Without Durant
Golden State will have to win at least its first game against Portland without Kevin Durant.
ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported the small forward will be out for Game 1 and is likely to miss Game 2 because he will not get re-evaluated until Thursday.
The Warriors were able to win Game 6 against Houston without Durant because of a massive performance out of Stephen Curry, who scored 33 second-half points.
Curry's Game 6 performance followed a trend he has set in games the Warriors play without Durant.
Golden State has won 27 of its last 28 games in which Durant sits and Curry plays, and in those games the latter averages 27.9 points per game, per ESPN Stats and Info:
Curry and the rest of Golden State's stars will have to be at their best in Tuesday's Game 1 against a Portland team that will come into Oracle Arena with no fear.
Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Co. won three road games in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The Blazers won Game 4 in the first round in Oklahoma City and then took Games 2 and 7 in Denver to clinch a spot in the Western Conference Final.
In the pair of road wins against the Nuggets, McCollum was Portland's top scorer, as he totaled 20 points in Game 2 and 37 points in Game 7. He scored 43 points in his two games at Oracle Arena in the regular season, while Lillard had 44 points in those contests.
The Game 1 point totals of the Portland guards should surpass their previous two games this season at Oracle Arena since those matchups were played with a healthy Jusuf Nurkic in the lineup.
Milwaukee, Toronto Playing For Home-Court Advantage
Since Milwaukee and Toronto had the two best regular-season records in the NBA, the winner of the Eastern Conference Final will earn home-court advantage in the NBA Finals.
Milwaukee had an NBA-best 33-8 home record in the regular season, and it has gone 4-1 at Fiserv Forum in the first two rounds.
The lone home loss suffered by the Bucks came in Game 1 of the second-round series against Boston.
In that game, the Bucks shot 34.8 percent from the field and had two players join Giannis Antetokounmpo in double digits.
In the series-clinching Game 5 at home, the Bucks had seven players score 10 points or more and shot 44.7 percent from the field.
Toronto, who had a 32-9 home mark in the regular season, carries a 5-2 playoff record at Scotiabank Arena into the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Raptors surprisingly dropped their first game of the postseason to Orlando, but then responded with four straight wins.
Against Philadelphia, the Raptors lost Game 2 at home, but then they won Games 5 and 7 in their own building to secure the series.
Toronto was much more efficient at home in Game 5, as it shot 48.8 from the field and 40 percent from three-point range.
Regardless of which team wins the East, it will have to take full advantage of its home court in the opening games of the NBA Finals to put pressure on its opponent, which many think will be Golden State.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from Basketball Reference.
