While both the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference and the Golden State Warriors in the West are off to blazing starts, don’t pencil these two into this year’s edition of the NBA Finals. Both these teams have played extremely well this season, each having won 15 straight games at one point. The last two times a team has won 15 straight games, they won the championship. However, these teams have a lot to overcome if they want to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in June.

If you go back to the start of the 21st century, only teams with a great coach have won the title. Gregg Popovich has won four titles with the San Antonio Spurs, Phil Jackson has five rings with the Los Angeles Lakers and Erik Spoelstra has won two championships with the Miami Heat. While Spoelstra may not be in that “legendary coach” category, nobody can argue with his two championship rings.

This trend doesn’t bode well for the Hawks and Warriors. Golden State has a rookie head coach in Steve Kerr. Even though he’s had a great season, will he be able to make the right decisions in a Game Seven?

In Atlanta, they have Mike Budenholzer, who coached under Gregg Popovich for years, so he knows how to manage late game situations and motivate his players. But he still isn’t in the same category of these championship coaches. The edge in coaching has to go to the Atlanta Hawks.

Home court advantage is another huge factor in the NBA playoffs. Can the Warriors hold off the likes of Memphis, Dallas or San Antonio? Golden State has arguably the best home court advantage in the Association with their college-like atmosphere in the Bay Area.

For the Hawks, they have a much different story. Their fans rarely come out to watch this team play. They have the 22nd highest attendance in the NBA, and there are only 30 teams. They’ve had to come up with “Tinder Night” and other gimmicks just to get fans to come out and see the Eastern Conference leading Hawks. While the seats will probably be filled come May, how much of an advantage will home court really be for Atlanta? The advantage here must go to Golden State.

The final major factor in determining who will go to the Finals is the road these teams must travel through. For Golden State, they will have to deal with any combination of the Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trailblazers and even the Oklahoma City Thunder. This year will probably go down as the toughest playoff bracket in NBA history. You can make a case for any team coming out of the West, so even if the Warriors can attain the number one seed, can they survive? Houston has an elite scorer in James Harden and an elite rim-protector in Dwight Howard. Portland has one of the best closers in the game in Damian Lillard. Dallas has Rajon Rondo and Dirk Nowitzki running the show, with Monta Ellis who can close out games in his own right. The Clippers have Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, the Grizzlies have Marc Gasol and a team that fights until the end. Then there are the defending champion Spurs, who, despite where they are seeded, will perhaps be the favorites once again. And the Thunder have arguably the best duo in the game in Durant and Westbrook.

The West is loaded, and Golden State is no guarantee to win it. The East, however, is a completely different story. The Hawks have big threats in the Cavaliers (if they get it together) and the Bulls. Other than that, the road isn’t difficult. The Wizards and the Raptors, while great stories, aren’t really ready to get to the Finals. The Wizards are too young, and the Raptors don’t have enough playoff experience to truly be contenders. The one thing going against the Hawks is that they don’t have a true superstar. The Bulls have Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah. The Cavaliers have Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and of course, LeBron James. LeBron’s team has been to four straight Finals, and that’s no coincidence. The best player in the game tends to be the difference in a close series. Could the Hawks stop Cleveland in a Game Seven? Who can go bucket-for-bucket with James? And the Bulls are elite defensively, so could Atlanta score enough against them to win four out of seven games? On depth alone, the Atlanta Hawks have the edge in this category.

So, while both the Warriors and the Hawks are off to blistering starts this year and appear to be the best teams in the league, neither should be considered shoe-ins. There’s still a lot of basketball left to play.