The rest of the Eastern Conference
Ah, the rest. A lowkey condescending name I am attributing to the seeds under the top three in the East. Let’s be real, everyone is fighting for the four and five seeds. Everyone else is essentially a lock for a first-round exit. Yes, anything can happen. Especially if Miami slips to sixth and matches up with Milwaukee (oh god please no) in the first round. But basically, anyone playing those top three seeds in the first round is a massive underdog. Let’s take a look at where everyone is seeded right now.
The Atlanta Hawks are fourth (!) in the East right now at 29-25. They are 17-6 under Nate McMillan, who yet again deserves COY votes. Self Love warning! This is from an article I wrote over a month ago about this very topic:
"Beyond the top three, no one in the Eastern standings is safe. Check this out. Everyone between slots No. 4 and No. 10 are between 19-17 and 16-19. That does not include the No. 11 Atlanta Hawks who sit at 16-20 and just promoted Nate McMillan who does nothing but get everything out of his teams (honestly guys, I think the Hawks are now more likely to have a legit playoff spot than they are to miss the play-in tournament)."
McMillan knows how to win games. Oh, and they have one of the ten easiest remaining schedules in the league.
The Heat sits at fifth in the East at 28-26. They’ve been trading win streaks and loss streaks for a month or two now. And they just lost new acquisition Victor Oladipo (who was playing poorly for them anyways, to be fair) to a knee injury. They still have two of the best defenders in the league, a top-three (AT WORST) coach, and a middle-of-the-road remaining schedule.
THE CHARLOTTE HORNETSSSSSSS. God, I love this team. They lost LaMelo Ball a month ago and have played 12 games since. They are 7-5 in those games. They haven’t had Gordon Hayward for four games and are 2-3. James Borrego has made this team a well-oiled machine that has shown the propensity for coasting without its stars. That, coupled with the ninth easiest remaining schedule, bodes well for this team.
The Boston Celtics are 29-26 and seventh in the East. They have been massively disappointing this season. Just undisciplined and weak-willed. Extended absences from Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, among others have not helped. Evan Fournier has played (and shot the ball) well in his tenure since the trade deadline. And they just mounted an incredible comeback against the Nuggets last week. They have a middle-of-the-road remaining schedule.
The New York Knicks simply will not quit. Not really a rhyme but it is close enough. They are 28-27 and eighth in the East. RJ Barrett and Julius Randle are legitimate leaders of a team, Eastern Conference or not. THIBSSSSS has this team playing hard and maintaining a rock-solid defense. They have not faltered despite the season-ending (and depressing if we keeping it real) injury to Mitchell Robinson. However, they have the eighth hardest remaining schedule in the league.
The two teams on the bubble are the Pacers (25-28) and the Bulls (22-31). The Bulls still need to figure out how to integrate their new rotational pieces and face a multi-game gap to get out of the bad side of the play-in. I do not anticipate them doing so. The Pacers have the 10th easiest remaining schedule and Caris LeVert is starting to show off for them. They have a better chance.