By Noah Hickman
Once again, the NBA is wrapping up a shortened season thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The play-in games are over with and the seeding is all set for the 2021 NBA playoffs.
This has certainly been a year of uncertainty: the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers were only two losses away from being eliminated from the playoffs, the Boston Celtics have underperformed and so have the Miami Heat.
The Heat and the Lakers made it to the NBA finals last year but had a stretch this year where they had to fight for their playoff lives.
The Boston Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year but had to beat the Washington Wizards to clinch the seven-seed.
With the exception of the Denver Nuggets, every team who made it to the Conference Finals last year has underperformed this season but are talented and experienced enough to prove themselves in the playoffs -- therefore, they are not sleepers.
Without further ado, let's look at my top three sleeper teams who have the potential to make it to the conference finals.
3. Washington Wizards
They may be the eight-seed in the east but just think about where they were a short while ago.
49 games into the season, they were 17-32 and had less than a one percent chance of making the playoffs.
Ever since then, they have gone 18-7 (including the two play-in games).
The Wizards have the No. 2 scorer in the NBA, Bradley Beal, and a man who recently surpassed Oscar Robertson's triple-double record, Russell Westbrook.
Beal and Westbrook may be the most potent one-two punch in the NBA -- don't sleep on the red-hot Wizards.
2. New York Knicks
If you were to tell me the New York Knicks were to be a four-seed in the NBA playoffs before the 2020-21 season began, I would have laughed straight at your face until I passed out.
The last time the Knicks were a top eight team in the east was in the 2012-13 season.
The experts also seemed amazed that the Knicks have made it this far, but I will go a step further and say they have a legitimate shot at making the Eastern Conference Finals.
I say that for a few reasons: the Knicks have one of the best defenses in the NBA which is mandatory in the NBA playoffs, they have home-field advantage in the first round, one of the best all-around players in Julius Randle and perhaps the Coach of the Year in Tom Thibodeau.
If the Knicks are able to beat the Atlanta Hawks in the best-of-seven, they will either play the Washington Wizards or the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Knicks and the 76ers have many similarities in terms of playstyle.
The 76ers have an elite defense and a little more star power than the Knicks but if the two teams match up in the second round, New York can give Philadelphia some fits.
1. Portland Trail Blazers
Ah, the six-seed in the west that has the most consecutive playoff (eight) appearances out of any team in the NBA.
Out of the eight consecutive times the Trail Blazers have made the playoffs, they have only made it to the Western Conference Finals once (2019) -- that's not good!
So, why is Portland my No. 1 sleeper team?
They have one of the best active one-two guard duos in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum and a VERY manageable path to the Western Conference Finals.
The Trail Blazers play the Denver Nuggets in the first round and the Nuggets are going to be without one of its best players in the playoffs, Jamal Murray.
The Nuggets also never make it easy as four of its last five playoff series have gone to game seven; one of which, they lost to the Portland Trail Blazers with a healthy team.
If Portland advances to round two, they will either face a Los Angles Lakers team that literally just had its two best players return from injury or an inexperienced Phoenix Suns team that is making its first playoff appearance since 2010.
I would not be surprised if this ends up being the best season for Portland in the Lillard-Stotts era.
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