With the NBA All-Star break over, teams are heading into the final stretch of the 2021-22 regular season with around 25 or so games remaining.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, Yahoo Sports' NBA experts reset their preseason predictions for a number of awards, late-playoff matchups and what will be the most interesting storylines heading into the postseason.<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: Chris Paul, Phoenix Suns<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers<\/p>\n
Odds to win: Embiid is BetMGM's favorite for MVP at +125, followed by Denver's Nikola Jokic at +275 and Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo at +375.<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
Odds to win: Mobley is BetMGM's favorite for Rookie of the Year at -350, followed by Oklahoma City's Josh Giddey at +850 and Detroit's Cade Cunningham at +900.<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: J.B. Bickerstaff, Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: Monty Williams, Phoenix Suns<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: Taylor Jenkins, Memphis Grizzlies<\/p>\n
Odds to win: Williams is BetMGM's favorite for Coach of the Year at -250, followed by Bickerstaff at +325 and Jenkins at +650.<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors<\/p>\n
Odds to win: The Warriors are BetMGM's favorite to win the West at +175, followed by the Suns at +190 and the Utah Jazz at +600.<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Philadelphia 76ers<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat<\/p>\n
Odds to win: The Brooklyn Nets and Bucks are BetMGM's favorite to win the East at +280, followed by the 76ers at +350 and the Heat at +500.<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Golden State Warriors<\/p>\n
Story continues<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Phoenix Suns<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Golden State Warriors<\/p>\n
Odds to win: The Warriors are BetMGM's favorite to win the championship at +425, followed by the Suns at +450 and the Nets at +600.<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: Memphis Grizzlies<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: Los Angeles Lakers<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: The battle for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference. Itll all come down to matchups compared to team excellence, and itll be interesting to see who avoids who in this.<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: Seeing if James Harden and Joel Embiid can succeed together in competing for a championship. The last few months of the season will be telling.<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: The jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference playoffs is going to be insane. The Brooklyn Nets would actually benefit from being a seventh or eighth seed, because of Kyrie Irving's vaccination status, and nobody is going to want to be the Nos. 1 or 2 seed as a result. It is going to be brutal, and the fight starts with the road each team lays out for itself over the final 25 games.<\/p>\n
Vincent Goodwill: The Brooklyn Nets being a mess.<\/p>\n
Chris Haynes: The Los Angeles Lakers are the mess we thought they would be.<\/p>\n
Ben Rohrbach: I was wrong about the Lakers in 2019-20, when I said they were wildly overrated, and again in 2020-21, when I said they would repeat as champions, so I'll take a victory lap while I can, since I said they were more pretenders than contenders to start this season. (Now watch them win the title.)<\/p>\n
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NBA predictions for the stretch run: MVP, Rookie of the Year and what to watch - Yahoo Sports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the NBA All-Star break over, teams are heading into the final stretch of the 2021-22 regular season with around 25 or so games remaining. With that in mind, Yahoo Sports' NBA experts reset their preseason predictions for a number of awards, late-playoff matchups and what will be the most interesting storylines heading into the postseason. Vincent Goodwill: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers Chris Haynes: Chris Paul, Phoenix Suns Ben Rohrbach: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers Odds to win: Embiid is BetMGM's favorite for MVP at +125, followed by Denver's Nikola Jokic at +275 and Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo at +375. Continue reading