National Basketball Association

Are the NBA's Top Seeds in Trouble?

Updated Jul. 9, 2021 10:49 a.m. ET

By Martin Rogers

Even in a bubble, it is easy to get caught gazing off into the future, and the three likeliest contenders for an NBA championship may be guilty of doing just that.

For the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles tandem of the Lakers and the Clippers, anything other than a title this season will be considered a failure. Yet with this unique postseason underway, there are more immediate issues to be addressed for each of the primary challengers, or else the journey to glory may be cut short before it has properly begun.

FOX Sports’ Kevin Wildes used an auto analogy to describe the two top seeds. "The Lakers are a broken down car in your driveway with four flat tires," Wildes said. "We are not going anywhere if it’s like this. The Bucks are like when you are taking a long trip and something is wrong with the car - are we going to be able to get all the way cross country in this?"

If we’re going down a car comparison route then who occupies which spot in the showroom? Portland might be a speedy sports car zipping along on the inside and trying to compete with the monster truck of the Lakers. With LeBron James and Anthony Davis spearheading things, the Lakers have all the torque and should be able to bump everyone else off the road, in theory.

Milwaukee might be a Formula One car, with tons of power, but one that only works effectively if an expert driver is behind the wheel. If Giannis Antetokounmpo fires, so do the Bucks. Yet in the opening game, the Orlando Magic were largely able to contain his threat, making things seriously interesting.

It is entirely possible that the big engines have been caught focusing too heavily upon the ultimate destination.

James has made no secret of the fact that he is primed and ready for another trip to the NBA Finals after missing the playoffs last season, but with Portland on a tear after getting fully healthy and Damian Lilliard on fire, there are serious worries among the purple and gold faithful. James managed 23 points, 16 assists and 17 rebounds in the opener, and it still wasn’t enough.

Opening round matchups can often tend to be snoozers, especially those featuring the top teams against the lower seeds. In the 1 vs. 8 matchup in the West last year, it was seen as a harmlessly pleasant surprise when the Clippers, without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George back then, pushed the defending champion Golden State Warriors to six games.

In the East, the Bucks obliterated the Detroit Pistons with a combined 95-point winning margin over the four games. This time, the strange factors of the Disney enclave appear to be evening things out. No home court advantage, no typical atmosphere; just basketball, and a bunch of motivated underdogs desperate to prove a point.

The Milwaukee Bucks still like their chances of moving seamlessly through the East, and FOX Bet had them as a 12.5-point favorite for Game 2 on Thursday. Yet the early indicators suggest that upsets have a greater possibility of taking place in this year’s playoffs.

"All year we’ve been thriving off our own fans, we don’t have that," Bucks guard George Hill said. "We haven’t figured it out yet. When you get hit in the mouth, you’ve got to throw the next punch."

On Wednesday night, the Clippers added their name to the list of favorites who were not getting things all their own way. Luka Doncic is a youngster on a mission and the Dallas Mavericks gave the Clippers all they could handle and more to level the series at 1-1.

And while one school of thought is that these tough tests could be just what the big teams need to warm them up for the potential blockbusters in the later rounds, the danger could be more immediate than that. The sports world is waiting for the Lakers and Clippers to do battle in the conference finals, but neither Portland nor Dallas have read that script, or if they did, they decided they didn’t like it much.

There is no question that this is a title that everyone desperately wants to win. It will be a season that is going to be remembered in perpetuity. James doesn't buy into the whole asterisk business. Instead, he feels that this championship should come with a special gold star.

But standing in his way is the hot-shooting Lillard, who feels no one is playing sharper or better than himself right now. As for the Clippers, they'll have to get by Doncic, who is motivated to prove that he's not just the future of the NBA, but the present of the league, too. As for Orlando, in the odd spot of being in a bubble in their own city, they are hoping some more magic reignites as their series with Milwaukee progresses.

For the heavy hitters, history still beckons. They are favorites for a reason - because they have the best players and the greatest pedigree. But they’ll need to keep their eyes on the road if the greater prize is going to loom into view.