In the NBA, there are always teams ready to buck the idea of a sure thing.
There may be bottles of champagne on ice waiting to be poured over the heads of the Miami Heat, but as the anyone who remembers the 2004 Lakers can tell you, even dream teams can fall.
All it takes is an injury, internal strife, questionable officiating or a team that has peaked too soon for an upset to happen. With playoffs starting in little over a month, let's take a look at which team can upset the teams who have a parade on their minds.
EAST - For most of the season, the New York Knicks seemed like the only team that could take out Miami, but there's a team that is full of veterans, NBA champions and the motivation of going out a champ: The Boston Celtics. It's not often that you hear the Celtics in the same vein as dark horse or any kind of horse, particularly with the late January loss of Rajon Rondo to an ACL injury, but don't count them out.
Coach Doc Rivers knows that the season is a marathon and not a sprint. He's more concerned about resting his aging starters and less concerned about being a high seed. The Knicks latest injuries may give the Celtics a chance to move up the seedings, but don't expect Rivers to overwork his stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. The Celtics are currently sixth in the Eastern Conference and 7-3 in their last 10 games. As a matter of fact, if the playoffs started today, they'd play the Knicks.
WEST - The West is deep. Very deep, which is why most of the league thought that the Oklahoma City Thunder did them a favor in moving James Harden at the start of the season. The Thunder were considered just as invincible as the Miami Heat and were seen as likely to beat the Heat with a year of experience under their belt. Despite a record that is only a game off the Conference leading San Antonio Spurs, there's a team that gets very fat off of home cooking: The Denver Nuggets.
Until the Lakers lost Kobe Bryant for an undetermined amount of time with an ankle injury, they were clearly the team no one wanted to face, but the Nuggets have taken that title with eyes on another. They've won 10 straight including wins over the Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, and the Thunder. They're 29-3 at home. That's second only to Miami's 30-3 home record. They're also the second highest scoring team in the league. The Nuggets have made no secret that the higher altitude contributes to their sensational home record. Led by Ty Lawson and Danilo Gallinari, the Denver Nuggets have a young, fast engine that teams may run out of breath trying to keep up with in the playoffs.