NBA: Mid-season playoff seeding predictions for the East and West

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Milwaukee Bucks Brook Lopez (Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports) /

Eastern Conference

1. Milwaukee Bucks

It’s fair to criticize this prediction. After all, through the first half of the season, the Milwaukee Bucks haven’t at all looked like the best team in the Eastern Conference. However, over the last few weeks, the Boston Celtics have begun to fall back to reality and the Bucks are still getting healthy.

Couple their health with a move that I believe they will make at the NBA Trade Deadline and I believe that this is a team that could get hot during the second half of the season. Milwaukee has the talent to compete with any other team in the league; that much was clear when they won a championship two seasons ago.

If the Bucks are able to add one more piece (presumably at the NBA Trade Deadline), this is a team that could absolutely begin to pull away from the rest of the teams in the East. Will it happen? It remains to be seen, but I believe they do have that gear in them.