Doing your due diligence ahead of time to put yourself in the strongest position possible to succeed once the 2024 NBA playoffs get underway is what separates the contenders from the pretenders in the world of sports betting.
Here are some key facts and tidbits from the history of postseason action you need to take to heart as the regular season closes down with a champion soon to be crowned come June.
Success In The West Proves Best
Glossing over the standings in the Western Conference this season alone, you can instantly tell there's a massive discrepancy between the level of talent jockeying for position as opposed to that over in the East.
As of April 8, four teams in the West have 50 or more wins while the East has just one, and the fifth seed in the West would have a strong enough record to be the second seed in the East.
The shift of power is even more apparent when remembering which teams have hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy over the last ten years, with the West holding a 7-3 record over the East during that span. In fact, the only team to win consecutive titles coming out of the East since the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls has been the Miami Heat with "The Heatles" in 2012 and 2013.
Representatives of the West were favored in the odds for each of those matchups, as well, with the 2018 Golden State Warriors being the most sizeable favorite at a whopping -1075.
"If you're not first, you're last"
Any team entering the playoffs as one of the two No. 1 seeds should undoubtedly be considered a heavy favorite to win it all, beyond the fact that having home-court advantage for most, if not all of the postseason, is an incredible advantage to have.
There have been 77 matchups in the NBA Finals and a No. 1 seed has prevailed in 51 of them, which equates to 66.2 percent of the time. Only the 1969 Boston Celtics (4th) and 1995 Houston Rockets (6th) have become champions with a fourth seed or higher.
Take into account, though, that only two of the last six champions have been a No. 1 seed (2023 Denver Nuggets, 2020 Los Angeles Lakers). The 2022 Warriors and 2021 Milwaukee Bucks winning marked the first time since 1977-78 that a third seed emerged in back-to-back seasons.
Save it for the playoffs
The Celtics have been far and away the best team in basketball in 2023-24, and that may ultimately lead to their downfall.
Having already clinched home-court advantage throughout the entirety of the playoffs, Boston faithful should be aware that the team which finished with the best overall record in each of the last four seasons didn't even advance to that year's conference finals.
Offense > Defense
The old saying goes that defense wins championships, but teams have to put the ball in the basket more than the opposition at the end of the day.
Since 2014, eight of the ten champions finished their respective season with a top-five offense overall. The two exceptions had generational talents in Stephen Curry and LeBron James at the helm, while also possessing top-three defenses to compensate for offenses which fell outside of the top 10.