We have a legitimately crazy playoff race in the East
A few teams are heating up at the right time to give us plenty of intrigue for the last two guaranteed playoff spots in the East.
A few teams are heating up at the right time to give us plenty of intrigue for the last two guaranteed playoff spots in the East.
Good morning. Every month contains madness when you think about it. Let's basketball.
With nine of the 30 NBA teams appearing totally uninterested in postseason play coming out of the trade deadline, it looked like we might have a pretty boring set of playoff races for the homestretch. There's always been the race for No. 6 in the West, though that has felt like some of the would-be second tier teams staving off the maniac Suns and imminent disappointment from having to earn it in the play-in. The Bucks looked poised to possibly make a run at the play-in in the East depending on Giannis Antetokounmpo's status, but though he's back the team is falling further behind.
That left only the race for the Nos. 5 and 6 slots in the East. The Raptors looked solid as they have all season, but the other teams in the mix didn't inspire much confidence. The Sixers continue to deal with key absences, the Magic are in the same situation with an extra helping of a disappointing downturn for their star, the Heat have been middling all year, the Hawks have down their usual perennial flirtation with .500 and the Hornets looked amazing but were coming out of a deep, deep hole.
All of a sudden, though, the race looks pretty interesting.
The Raptors have slipped a bit: they are just 7-8 over the past six weeks since their clutch win over the Thunder on January 25. The defense has slipped from No. 4 through that game to No. 13 since then. The offense hasn't changed much. Toronto isn't losing ground, but it hasn't been able to maintain its lead on the No. 5 seed (which it settled into once the Knicks and Cavaliers took widely expected upward leaps) as other teams have found their way.
The Magic, still without Franz Wagner, have won four straight and are 7-3 since the break. Miami is 7-2 since All-Star and is carrying one of the league's best defenses around. Philadelphia had been holding onto the No. 6 seed for a while, but an oblique injury to Joel Embiid and now an ill-timed finger sprain for Tyrese Maxey are troubling.
The most stunning change other than Hornets' rise (which far predates the All-Star break) is that the Hawks suddenly look capable every night out. Atlanta is 7-1 since the break and has won six straight, the longest win streak in the league. The spark: C.J. McCollum replaced Zaccharie Risacher in the starting lineup. It turns out McCollum joining a middling team midseason and turning them into a legitimate playoff team is a repeatable task.
Here's what we're left with: six teams are within five games of each other with two guarantee playoff positions at stake and less than 20 games remaining for each team. Let's look at each team's situation:
