Sports
ESPN picks Denver Nuggets, not Phoenix Suns, to win NBA Finals – The Arizona Republic
ESPN is rolling with the defending NBA champions.
The network’s experts have picked the Denver Nuggets to repeat this season with 48% of the first-place votes with Phoenix Suns finishing fourth in the voting to win the NBA Finals.
The Milwaukee Bucks received 28% of the votes (49 points), followed by the Boston Celtics (32 points, 4% of the first-place votes), Suns (30 points, 8% of the first-place votes) and Miami Heat (22 points, 12% of the first-place votes).
More:ESPN predicts Phoenix Suns to finish 2nd in West behind NBA champion Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets, who eliminated the Suns in the Western Conference semifinals in six games last season, received 106 points (76% of the first-place votes) to win the conference finals this season.
The Suns tallied 60 points (12% of the first-place votes) for second place followed by Golden State Warriors (27 points, 8% of the first-place votes and Los Angeles Lakers (24 points, 4% of the first-place votes).
The Suns open the 2023-24 regular season Oct. 24 at Golden State.
More:Who’ll ‘take a backseat’ for Phoenix Suns’ Big 3 of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal?
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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