in the beginning of the year we thought the eastern conference as a whole would be awful but with a little over a month to go before the playoffs it s become clear nope we were right the eastern conference as a whole is awful it appears to be a foregone conclusion that at least two of the playoff teams will be under 500 and it could be by as many as six games but conference alignment in the playoffs isn t going anywhere this year so this is where we re at and while the overall records might be bad the race for the 6th through 8th seeds has actually become pretty compelling even if few have any real hope of getting out of the first round making the playoffs even in the east is a mark of success in this league with 35 days to go before the start of the playoffs here s a look at the teams that are reasonably in and out of the playoff race in the east in barring a federal disaster milwaukee bucks milwaukee was cruising to the sixth seed with an outside chance at the fifth seed earlier this year but after losing jabari parker and then larry sanders the bucks made a long term goals over short term gain move and traded brandon knight who they didn t want to re sign in restricted free agency since the trade deadline they re 4 8 and are 29th in offensive efficiency so not great bob milwaukee s still got a tough defense but with michael carter williams at the forefront and with their lack of depth things are a lot tougher offensively the schedule is extremely unkind until april with games against the grizzlies pelicans spurs cavaliers warriors and hawks before the calendar flips but the april schedule is much softer with games against the celtics magic cavaliers knicks nets sixers and celtics again and given their competition even with a magic number of 14 as of saturday they likely only need another five to seven wins but with that march schedule stretch and given the way that the pacers are playing the bucks are looking more and more likely to wind up in the seventh seed facing the cavaliers that s a much less ideal matchup than the third seed and a possible raptors matchup and the raptors are getting the third seed their schedule for the remainder of the season is yogurt pushed through a cheese grader as for a playoff spot they re five up on the heat and celtics in the loss column boston s hot but there are enough easy wins to avoid a total collapse most likely finish 7th seed matchup with cleveland first round indiana pacers the hottest team in the land since the all star break 9 1 they ve been unstoppable and there s still the looming return of paul george they are extremely well coached they have a lot of hidden talent and their schedule is soft enough despite 10 of 17 remaining games against playoff teams indiana can play with anyone right now with milwaukee s brutal schedule through the end of march and with five of the pacers eight games left in march at home don t be surprised if indiana slides up to the sixth seed and holds on the pacers aren t necessarily scared of any of the seeds they have played lebron james before and while they haven t beaten him they have to feel confident in their chances to compete but a third seed matchup with toronto is something that should probably send shivers down the raptors spine a tough defensive team with slashing guards that can get to the rim that s bad news for wethenorth but the schedule is filled with tough teams for indiana as well and if milwaukee can find some footing their 3 5 game lead on indiana could hold on the other side the pacers magic number remains a sky high 17 but given momentum and schedule we re going to pencil in indiana for a move up the standings most likely finish 6th seed and a first round matchup with toronto on the bubble everyone else charlotte hornets the hornets have done enough and battled past a lot of adversity to get their stake on the 8th seed they got off to a terrible start have dealt with injuries to kemba walker and al jefferson and haven t ever really gotten lance stephenson acclimated nothing has really gone right for the hornets yet here they are in the 8th seed and on the surface their remaining schedule doesn t look too bad only 10 of their final 18 opponents are against playoff teams and only two against western conference playoff teams with so many lottery teams in their sights you should feel more confident in their ability to hold on but the problem is with who and where the other games are eleven of the hornets final 18 are on the road charlotte hasn t been much worse on the road than they ve been at home but that s still not favorable and their non playoff games are against the suddenly frisky jazz and timberwolves the red hot celtics and the heat who they re fighting with for the 8th they realistically have five games against basement teams charlotte has been inconsistent with their winning patterns but it s still not a favorable look given their resume and identity the bigger problem is boston but we ll get to that in a minute some good news charlotte has tiebreaker over every team in contention currently except indiana most likely finish uncertain but you can t pencil them in they re one of two teams with the best shot at the 8th and a first round matchup with atlanta miami heat miami the oklahoma city of the east in that every time something starts to break its way it gets a stroke of bad luck injuries weird losses the freak chris bosh condition and the fact that the heat simply haven t been able to field a consistent rotation michael beasley is playing center for crying out loud tyler johnson is helping them carry games who is tyler johnson and beyond all that i would have a lot more faith in them if it wasn t for the schedule and oh man the schedule good news the heat have nine of their final 17 games at home where they are 14 18 worse than on the road ok that s not good news but at least they only play 12 teams that are either in the playoffs or fighting for the eighth seed again not ideal but at least they don t have to play the cavaliers twice the bulls the raptors the thunder the hawks and the spurs oh wait yes they do starting monday miami plays cleveland portland okc milwaukee atlanta san antonio and cleveland again before april 2nd the only redeeming news for miami is that they finish with the magic and sixers but even then most of their competitors for the playoff spot will be facing either lottery teams or teams that will be resting starters having secured a spot no matter how well dwyane wade has played or the improvement goran dragic can bring with more time with his new team it s just hard to have any faith in a team needing big contributions from hassan whiteside and michael beasley to carry through that schedule did i mention they don t have a tiebreaker over any team except the celtics right now i believe in dwyane wade i believe in erik spoelstra but you just can t have faith in miami surviving a year that s been this tough likely to finish 10th if the heat manage to make the playoffs it s going to take either a collapse from their competitors or a phenomenal run by miami boston celtics what s a guy got to do to tank around here danny ainge traded rajon rondo has moved nearly every veteran except brandon bass lost jared sullinger to injury has more future second round picks than millions in salary tied up and yet i have a really strong feeling they re going to make the 8th on the surface boston s schedule isn t that much better than charlotte s they have 13 of their final 18 vs teams that are in the playoffs or in contention ten of boston s final 18 are on the road but look closer and it looks very doable first off they have games against the 76ers pistons nets knicks and a double set vs the cavaliers when cleveland will likely have secured their seed they only have two back to backs remaining with one on the final night of the season and beyond that they have a world of momentum with evan turner having stepped up his play with isaiah thomas on a team that gives him free reign to go nuts and with a revamped interior featuring tyler zeller brandon bass in a bigger role and jonas jerebko boston s playing the best basketball of their 8th seed competitors that s not saying much but they are 8 5 since the all star break the issue they ve ridden this wave of momentum to get here and now have to sustain it if they hit a lull as teams often do it could come at a very bad time they have to stay hot through april 15th to catch but bear in mind they re a game back right now likely finish most likely candidate to grab the 8th seed as it stands right now so long and thanks for all the fish brooklyn nets the nets were in it they looked like they d really turned a corner after losing a close one to the rockets and knocking off the mavericks and warriors and then five straight losses four at home including a dagger loss wednesday to the miami heat brooklyn is 3 5 back they have lost tiebreakers to boston and miami with games left vs the pacers milwaukee and charlotte fourteen of their final 19 games are against either playoff teams or teams in contention they have four easy games left orlando new york the lakers and the 76ers and more than all that they are a fountain of sadness they ve had injuries and bad luck as well but they ve also simply lost their fight they have no answers for what s happened to them and very little in the way of leadership to carry them brooklyn s tragic number is still 16 because the eastern conference is trash most likely finish thanks for playing please collect your draft pick on the way out the doo oh wait no that goes to the hawks detroit pistons if only brandon jennings hadn t got hurt they might have been in this thing but reggie jackson has been a disaster and the team s defense has fallen off a cliff detroit is 1 9 in their last ten 4 11 in their last 15 seven back in the loss column thirteen of the pistons 17 remaining games are against playoff teams or teams in contention for the 8th the bottom has dropped out they re done most likely finish their tragic number is still 12 but it s a formality detroit s toast 
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