Denver still has the best player in the world in Nikola Jokić. With a exception of a down postseason from his running mate in 2024, Jokić and Jamal Murray are among the league's bigger playoff risers. And the Nuggets ending the season 3-0 under their interim coach could be more than the typical "new coach bump."

Now that (most) first-round matchups are set, the CBS Sports NBA staff went matchup-by-matchup to make our pic

The Warriors won four fewer games than the Rockets and lost two of the final three head-to-head meetings, but they’re still series favorites.

He's right. Sacramento started LaVine, DeRozan, Murray and Keon Ellis with Sabonis in that play-in loss. And since there's no way to walk back the De'Aaron Fox trade, the Kings are probably looking at distressed assets to remedy this situation (or at least make it a little better).

The Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga averaged 21.3 points against Houston this season. But will Golden State use him against the Rockets in the first-round series?