Popular U.S. website gives Toronto Raptors best chance of winning NBA championship

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      The Toronto Raptors still haven't won their Eastern Conference NBA semifinals over the Milwaukee Bucks.

      But that hasn't stopped the Fivethirtyeight.com website from predicting that Kawhi Leonard and Co. will emerge as NBA champs this year.

      After Toronto's thrilling victory in Game 5—giving the Raptors a 3-2 series edge—the team now has a 47 percent chance of winning the final series, according to the website's predictive model.

      Tonight, the Raptors will try to win their conference championship at home in Game 6 over the NBA's winningest team.

      The defending NBA champs, the Golden State Warriors, have a 41 percent chance in the finals, acccording to Fivethirtyeight.

      This is despite finishing off the Portland Trail Blazers in four straight games in the Western Conference finals.

      Golden State did this without injured superstar Kevin Durant. Amazingly, the Warriors have won 31 of their last 32 games without Durant, thanks to the outstanding play of Steph Curry.

      According to Fivethirty eight, the Bucks only have a 12 percent chance of capturing the championship.

      Fivethirtyeight assistant sports editor Sara Ziegler pointed out on the website that Toronto won more games this year than Golden State, plus Toronto would have the home-court advantage in the finals if it gets past the Bucks.

      Fivethirtyeight.com was founded in 2008 by statistician Nate Silver as a political blog. It was bought by ESPN in 2013 and was acquired by ABC News in 2018. Silver remains the editor-in-chief.

      Watch Charles and Shaq commmenting on Game 5.

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