Should we be that surprised that two teams that had tied for the best record in the conference (along with Denver) are favorites for the WCF? Maybe, but they are also the only two teams without any injuries. To me, that's the biggest factor in all of this. I think the playoffs look a bit different with teams at closer to full strength:
I think New Orleans gives OKC a series with Zion. Not that he's ever healthy or that they would have won, but if you had to draw up a bad matchup for OKC, it would be an paint bully like him.
Phoenix was a horribly flawed and thin team that wasn't going to win that series regardless, but Grayson Allen being out made it damn near hopeless for them.
Not that the Clippers are ever healthy, but losing Kawhi Leonard is kind of a big deal.
Luka is clearly hurt for Dallas. He can hardly move out there. Beyond that, I lost track of how many open threes they missed last night that maybe they have a better shot of making if Maxi Klieber is taking them instead of Tim Hardaway Jr? Klieber has been on fire this post season.
Even the shitty Lakers were down Vanderbilt, who would have been a useful defensive rotation piece in some tight games.
Jamal Murray is not anywhere close to 100%. Hell, he's so beat up he could barely reach the court with his heating pad. He's the only guy who can create off the dribble (other than Jokic bully ball) for Denver and they have become completely stagnant.
That doesn't even include what is going on in the East - Giannis, Lillard, Butler, Embiid at half strength, Randle/Bogdanovich/Robinson, etc. But we see this every year and I'm always somehow surprised by it.
Maybe I have selective memory, but I just don't remember this many injuries in the playoffs back in the day. It's counterintuitive with the advances in science and medicine that it's worse now than it was 30 years ago. This is for another discussion that I think we've had elsewhere, but my working theory is that allowing more physical defense where guys just can't run and jump and move freely was actually causing less wear and tear than the repetitive stress from the pace and space era.