With the regular season coming to an end, the NBA playoffs are set, and once again both East and West are tough to predict this year. Looking at the East, there are three teams that have a good chance to make the NBA finals. The West is similar, with three to four teams that have a realistic look at a run for the finals. 

In the East, it is a three-team race. The top seeded Detroit Pistons, who have finally taken the leap that everyone has been waiting to see, are led by MVP candidate Cade Cunningham. 

The Pistons go as Cunningham goes, and there was a scare when he went down with a collapsed lung a few weeks back. Luckily for the Pistons, Cunningham returned and looked like himself again. 

This Pistons team has the right group of guys to make a deep push; the question is if they can keep up with the more experienced teams they might have to face. 

The New York Knicks, who came into the year as favorites to run through the East, did not anticipate the absolute leap of the Pistons or the unreal return of Boston star Jayson Tatum. 

The Knicks went 0-3 against the Pistons this year, but they should not hold their heads down. They defeated both these teams in last year’s playoffs and could do it again, but for New York, this could be the best chance to finally get to the finals.

Finally, the Boston Celtics had a year very few could have expected. After Tatum went down last year, many thought Boston would take a step back, but the team kept on rolling with amazing play from Jaylen Brown and the key Boston players. Tatum returned and played like his old self again, giving Boston that extra push to make them true favorites in the East.

In the West, the defending NBA champions, Oklahoma City Thunder, have a few competitors who could take them down this year, such as the San Antonio Spurs, who dominated the Thunder in the regular-season series. 

But in the playoffs, experience is key, and for this young group of Spurs players, they may get overwhelmed. 

Another team is the Denver Nuggets, who are healthy and firing on all cylinders, and they match up really well with OKC. 

The Thunder are still as hungry as ever, so it will not be easy to knock them down. If there is any team in the West to do it, it is the Spurs and the Nuggets.

This is one of the best-looking NBA playoffs in a while, and there is no doubt that fans are in for one hell of a time as the road to the NBA finals starts.