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Late Tuesday night, the Phoenix Suns were still the heavy favorite to claim the franchise’s first NBA title. The team, which fell painfully short in last year’s NBA Finals, had been motivated by the loss all season, going 64-18 and earning the most regular-season wins by any team in the past four seasons.
Now the title appears up for grabs again, following a hamstring strain suffered by Devin Booker in the Suns’ Game 2 loss to the Pelicans. Phoenix’s leading scorer reportedly maye be sidelined two to three weeks, though the timeline for Booker’s return is still unclear. The Suns are 8-6 without him this season.
Sportsbooks have responded by essentially making the Suns (+320) and Warriors (+360) — via BetMGM, though other books list the Warriors as slight favorites — co-favorites, with the Bucks (+500), Celtics (+600) and Heat (+800) close behind. The NBA playoffs aren’t suddenly wide-open — this isn’t the NHL, where a hot goalie and strange puck luck can fuel overmatched teams to victory — but a title is now realistically in reach for a greater collection of teams.