IN TWO weeks, the playoffs begin for the world’s most popular basketball league. With less than six games left in the regular season, placements for the final push are taking shape. Qualified teams are not taking any chances and are resting their stars for the tougher grind ahead.
The Eastern Conference cast is complete. With five games remaining on their schedule, it would be difficult for the ninth placed Detroit to unseat either Miami or Milwaukee. The Heat’s next three assignments will be against non-playoff teams and they won’t be taking things lightly as they have the same standing as the Bucks, who likewise have three non-playoff teams as opponents in their last five scheduled games.
These are the probable matchups. Top seeded Toronto will go up against either the Heat or the Bucks. Second seed Boston will go up also either Heat or Bucks. Third seed Cleveland has sixth seed Washington as an opponent while fourth seed Philadelphia battles fifth seeded Indiana.
Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan are the heart and soul of the Raptors ably supported by CJ Miles, Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas. But on any given night, in probably the league’s best bench crew, either Fred Van Vleet, Norman Powell, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, or Delon Wright can put up big numbers. Coach Dwayne Casey has the luxury of a productive 10-man rotation. They will sweep Miami but could lose a game against Milwaukee.
It could be hard for the Celtics to overtake the Raptors at the top spot with injuries to Kyrie Irving, Shane Larkin and Marcus Smart but it looks like the younger guys are proving doubters wrong. Coach Brad Stevens is a wonder kid in blending in Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum, Terry Rozier, Al Horford, Marcus Morris, and Aron Baynes with inexperienced rookies Semi Ojeleye, Kadeem Allen and Abdel Nader. Daniel Theis would have been serviceable but he joined the guys on the injured list. Like the Raptors, they will sweep Miami and lose a game or two to the Bucks.
The Heat submit a balanced production from nine players but they lack the consistency to close out games. For the Bucks to advance, the support crew should improve their numbers to complement Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, Malcolm Brogdon, Jabari Parker, and Giannis you-know-who.
The Cavs will find the going tough against a Wiz team that aside from the guard combo of John Wall and Bradley Beal, they also have notable bigs in Markieff Morris, Marcin Gortat, Ian Mahinmi, and Otto Porter Jr. Aside for Beal and Wall, the reserve guards in Kelly Oubre Jr., Tomas Satoransky, Ramon Sessions, and Jodie Meeks can go up against Cleveland’s backcourt. But it will be Cavs in six. The Philadelphia-Indiana battle will be intriguing in a way as Joel Imbiid could miss some games because of a facial injury. With him and Ben Simmons, the Sixers had gotten serious, also getting some big lifts from the plays of Dario Saric, Ersan Ilyasova, JJ Redick, Marco Belinelli, and rookie Markele Fultz. In lieu of Imbiid, veteran Amir Johnson and Richaun Holmes will rotate the paint.
Led by Victor Oladipo with 23 ppg, five other players average 11 or more points a game for the Pacers. Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis, Thaddeus Young, Trevor Booker, and Al Jefferson can give major headaches to Philly’s frontcourt. It’s about even in the backcourt with Darren Collison, Corey Joseph, Lance Stephenson, and Bogdan Bogdanovic who can play the 2 and 3 spots effectively. If Imbiid can’t return on time, it will be Indiana in six.
As of this writing, the Wild West only has Houston, Golden State and Portland as the official playoff entries. Seven teams are still battling for positions but San Antonio and Oklahoma must win at least three games to secure the fifth and sixth playoff spot. The seventh to eight spot is still a tossup between Utah, Minnesota, New Orleans, and Denver./PN
