Home Stretch for the Top 3 EC Seeds

[Prokorov]

Heat are only a half game back of the 4 seed now. I would bet on them getting it.

I could see the Knicks falling to 6, which would be a pretty good matchup for us in my view.

I would LOVE to play the knicks.

in addition to being a team we'd easily handle, it would be fun, there would be a buzz around that series and it would galvanize us moving forward.

2 issue all agree on:
-teams beat us with effort
-teams outcoach us

we would have those tested earlier in the playoffs and respond/adjust eary

[andrewww]

With Jaylen Brown out for the season, Boston might not even finish 7th if they end up having to take part in the play-in games down one of their best players.

[therealbig3]

I see us ending up 3rd. Bucks have an easy schedule too and own the tiebreaker. I also don’t see us winning out.

[kuclas]

Bucks likely gonna to lose tonight. Down 24 late 3rd. I know Spurs blew 30 point lead but that was on the road. This is at home and bucks don’t have 2 quarters to make up deficits
Edit. Damn. It’s just the 2nd quarter. No defense got the bucks than to give up 87 by halftime

[Papi_swav]

ok so the Bucks just got spanked ! by the Spurs . So we're a game ahead of them and we need to try to keep it that way. The 3rd seed looks like they will play the HEAT in the 1st round. And the 2nd seed looks like they will be playing the winner of the Celtics/Hornets game.

IDK about ya but I would MUCH rather play Boston/Charlotte than the HEAT. HEAT can possibly upset the Bucks in the 1st round. A series against Boston/Charlotte should be a sweep or at most 5 games. We all know HEAT are as tough as they come despite their record. We have 4 games and 2 back to backs. Play Chicago twice but they are fighting for the play in, and the Spurs are no easy pushover team either. It will get tough because I imagine KD/Kyrie will probably rest on a b2b game. When is Harden coming back?

EDIT: looking at the standings and how close 4-6 is still up for grabs. And looking at the remaining schedules for Knicks, HEAT and Hawks it will be a fight. I hope Knicks get 4th, Hawks get 5th, HEAT get 6th and Celtics 7th while we're at 2nd place

[andrewww]

ok so the Bucks just got spanked ! by the Spurs . So we're a game ahead of them and we need to try to keep it that way. The 3rd seed looks like they will play the HEAT in the 1st round. And the 2nd seed looks like they will be playing the winner of the Celtics/Hornets game.

IDK about ya but I would MUCH rather play Boston/Charlotte than the HEAT. HEAT can possibly upset the Bucks in the 1st round. A series against Boston/Charlotte should be a sweep or at most 5 games. We all know HEAT are as tough as they come despite their record. We have 4 games and 2 back to backs. Play Chicago twice but they are fighting for the play in, and the Spurs are no easy pushover team either. It will get tough because I imagine KD/Kyrie will probably rest on a b2b game. When is Harden coming back?

Looks like Harden will be back Wed vs the Spurs.

Meaning we’ll need a big effort at the Bulls tomorrow.

[Papi_swav]

ok so the Bucks just got spanked ! by the Spurs . So we're a game ahead of them and we need to try to keep it that way. The 3rd seed looks like they will play the HEAT in the 1st round. And the 2nd seed looks like they will be playing the winner of the Celtics/Hornets game.

IDK about ya but I would MUCH rather play Boston/Charlotte than the HEAT. HEAT can possibly upset the Bucks in the 1st round. A series against Boston/Charlotte should be a sweep or at most 5 games. We all know HEAT are as tough as they come despite their record. We have 4 games and 2 back to backs. Play Chicago twice but they are fighting for the play in, and the Spurs are no easy pushover team either. It will get tough because I imagine KD/Kyrie will probably rest on a b2b game. When is Harden coming back?

Looks like Harden will be back Wed vs the Spurs.

Meaning we’ll need a big effort at the Bulls tomorrow.

ok that's great. So Kyrie/KD should be able to beat the Bulls tomorrow. Harden/Kyrie should be able to beat Spurs Wed. So we'll be at full strength on Saturday

[ecuhus1981]

ok so the Bucks just got spanked ! by the Spurs . So we're a game ahead of them and we need to try to keep it that way. The 3rd seed looks like they will play the HEAT in the 1st round. And the 2nd seed looks like they will be playing the winner of the Celtics/Hornets game.

IDK about ya but I would MUCH rather play Boston/Charlotte than the HEAT. HEAT can possibly upset the Bucks in the 1st round. A series against Boston/Charlotte should be a sweep or at most 5 games. We all know HEAT are as tough as they come despite their record. We have 4 games and 2 back to backs. Play Chicago twice but they are fighting for the play in, and the Spurs are no easy pushover team either. It will get tough because I imagine KD/Kyrie will probably rest on a b2b game. When is Harden coming back?

Looks like Harden will be back Wed vs the Spurs.

Meaning we’ll need a big effort at the Bulls tomorrow.

Are you giving an educated guess about Harden's return, or could you link a definitive source?

Nash's Monday press conference certainly indicated this possibility, but he very rarely gives concrete answers. That's the last I've heard from anyone within the organization, just a few hours ago.

[ecuhus1981]

So yeah, Milwaukee just dropped one in San Antonio, after 2 days' rest. They play Orlando tomorrow night, which won't be a tough test but with short rest they may sit multiple starters. I do hope we can hold onto the 2nd seed, our path becomes much more manageable.

[HardenGoat]

I think we absolutely need to hold the second seed. Report is Harden plays spurs game. KD and Kyrie have to win tomorrow against a tough bulls team. They traded for Vucevic with the intention of making playoffs this year so you know this is huge for them. My guess is KD sits out against Spurs. Blake will be limited tomorrow but play the B/B. We don’t want the Heat. We do want Bucks to be on that burner.

[andrewww]

ok so the Bucks just got spanked ! by the Spurs . So we're a game ahead of them and we need to try to keep it that way. The 3rd seed looks like they will play the HEAT in the 1st round. And the 2nd seed looks like they will be playing the winner of the Celtics/Hornets game.

IDK about ya but I would MUCH rather play Boston/Charlotte than the HEAT. HEAT can possibly upset the Bucks in the 1st round. A series against Boston/Charlotte should be a sweep or at most 5 games. We all know HEAT are as tough as they come despite their record. We have 4 games and 2 back to backs. Play Chicago twice but they are fighting for the play in, and the Spurs are no easy pushover team either. It will get tough because I imagine KD/Kyrie will probably rest on a b2b game. When is Harden coming back?

Looks like Harden will be back Wed vs the Spurs.

Meaning we’ll need a big effort at the Bulls tomorrow.

Are you giving an educated guess about Harden's return, or could you link a definitive source?

Nash's Monday press conference certainly indicated this possibility, but he very rarely gives concrete answers. That's the last I've heard from anyone within the organization, just a few hours ago.

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[andrewww]

So yeah, Milwaukee just dropped one in San Antonio, after 2 days' rest. They play Orlando tomorrow night, which won't be a tough test but with short rest they may sit multiple starters. I do hope we can hold onto the 2nd seed, our path becomes much more manageable.

My guess is the Bucks will drop 1 more game, against 1 of Indy or Miami. Any more would be a bonus.

Tue @ORL
Thurs @IND
Sat vs MIA
Sun @CHI

[ecuhus1981]

Ah, thanks for the assist, andrewww. I hadn't heard.

Woj doesn't speculate without inside sources very often, so I would say Wednesday is the plan. Whether he plays Saturday, Sunday or (gasp) both is anyone's guess.

[Prokorov]

ok so the Bucks just got spanked ! by the Spurs . So we're a game ahead of them and we need to try to keep it that way. The 3rd seed looks like they will play the HEAT in the 1st round. And the 2nd seed looks like they will be playing the winner of the Celtics/Hornets game.

IDK about ya but I would MUCH rather play Boston/Charlotte than the HEAT. HEAT can possibly upset the Bucks in the 1st round. A series against Boston/Charlotte should be a sweep or at most 5 games. We all know HEAT are as tough as they come despite their record. We have 4 games and 2 back to backs. Play Chicago twice but they are fighting for the play in, and the Spurs are no easy pushover team either. It will get tough because I imagine KD/Kyrie will probably rest on a b2b game. When is Harden coming back?

EDIT: looking at the standings and how close 4-6 is still up for grabs. And looking at the remaining schedules for Knicks, HEAT and Hawks it will be a fight. I hope Knicks get 4th, Hawks get 5th, HEAT get 6th and Celtics 7th while we're at 2nd place

With Jaylen brown out i think the Heat beat the Celtics again and probably finish above the hawks, and mayb the knicks too. I'm not to worried about that. I'm not scared of the heat but would like to avoid them because i do think they could upset the bucks or sixers and us eliminating them early would take that away.

With the bucks losing last night, we control our own destiny. We play 4 subpar teams but i dont think its likely we win all 4. When you look closer at the schedule:

Bulls (playing for their playoff lives)
Spurs (playing for their playoff lives) <-- NETS ON 2ND OF A BACK TO BACK
Bulls (playing for their playoff lives)
Cavs (Beat us with the big3 all playing; would love to play spoiler) <-- NETS ON 2ND OF A BACK TO BACK

3-1 is somewhat likely, but not a lock
2-2 is very very very possible even w/ Harden
4-0 is unlikely

The bucks losing to the heat would be huge. if that happens, we can go 3-1 and still get the 2 seed.

[Prokorov]

ok so the Bucks just got spanked ! by the Spurs . So we're a game ahead of them and we need to try to keep it that way. The 3rd seed looks like they will play the HEAT in the 1st round. And the 2nd seed looks like they will be playing the winner of the Celtics/Hornets game.

IDK about ya but I would MUCH rather play Boston/Charlotte than the HEAT. HEAT can possibly upset the Bucks in the 1st round. A series against Boston/Charlotte should be a sweep or at most 5 games. We all know HEAT are as tough as they come despite their record. We have 4 games and 2 back to backs. Play Chicago twice but they are fighting for the play in, and the Spurs are no easy pushover team either. It will get tough because I imagine KD/Kyrie will probably rest on a b2b game. When is Harden coming back?

Looks like Harden will be back Wed vs the Spurs.

Meaning we’ll need a big effort at the Bulls tomorrow.

ok that's great. So Kyrie/KD should be able to beat the Bulls tomorrow. Harden/Kyrie should be able to beat Spurs Wed. So we'll be at full strength on Saturday

A bucks loss to Miami would be enormous. would mean we only need 3 wins, not 4.

KD/Kyrie handle the bulls
Harden/Kyrie handle the spurs
Big 3 handle the bulls,... if we stumble we run it back for revenge game vs the cavs

[Prokorov]

So yeah, Milwaukee just dropped one in San Antonio, after 2 days' rest. They play Orlando tomorrow night, which won't be a tough test but with short rest they may sit multiple starters. I do hope we can hold onto the 2nd seed, our path becomes much more manageable.

My guess is the Bucks will drop 1 more game, against 1 of Indy or Miami. Any more would be a bonus.

Tue @ORL - 2nd of a back to back
Thurs @IND - on the road, pacers in playoff hunt
Sat vs MIA - miami owns them
Sun @CHI - on the road, bulls could be in a need to win to get in scenario

I can see 1 more loss in there. 2 more would be a godsend, and certainly possible.

an all out collapse would be fun too

[Prokorov]

This would be a fun scenario:

Bucks trail nets by 1 game.
Bucks lose to miami, which clinches 2 seed for the nets
Bucks are demoralized and play heat round 1. who sweep them

[Prokorov]

Ah, thanks for the assist, andrewww. I hadn't heard.

Woj doesn't speculate without inside sources very often, so I would say Wednesday is the plan. Whether he plays Saturday, Sunday or (gasp) both is anyone's guess.

Harden playing back to backs would be all-time stupid.

I wouldnt play him back to back if it was the difference between the 6 seed and playin round, let alone 2 vs 3 seed

[HardenGoat]

Our upcoming two games are critical. There are scenarios where if we stay ahead ahead of the Bucks, and the Hawks and/or Knicks lose a game, the Bucks might decide to throw their Saturday Heat game to move them up to 5. We also want the Wizards to beat the Hawks tomorrow to push Bulls out of the play in war making our next game with them easier. Imagine the Bucks playing the heat knowing if they win they will face them first round instead of Hawks or Knicks ... that would be hilarious.

[Prokorov]

Our upcoming two games are critical. There are scenarios where if we stay ahead ahead of the Bucks and Hawks and/or Knicks lose a game the Bucks might decide to throw their Saturday Heat game to move them up to 5. We also want the Wizards to beat the Hawks tomorrow to push Bulls out of the play in war making our next game with them easier. Imagine the Bucks playing the heat knowing if they win they will face them first round instead of Hawks or Knicks ... that would be hilarious.

I agree. winning the next 2 makes the bucks more likely to rest or embrace the 3 seed.

Hainvg 2 games left and knowing they need us to lose to have a shot is bleak. they may opt for rest