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[skbucks1985]

I think its very unlikely Atlanta catches Philly. They'd probably need to go at least 12-5 the rest of the way. Its more likely Chicago catches them, but that's still much more unlikely than not as well. I think 4-8 ends up being Orlando at 4, NYK at 5, Miami at 6, Indiana at 7 and Philly at 8.

[sidney lanier]

Salute

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What kind of player was he?

Chonesian

I always liked that Al McGuire let Bo Ellis design uniforms. I also like that he called Chones his aircraft carrier. That's what he was-- probably the best big in college when he played for Marquette.

He did color on the Cavs broadcasts for a long time and may still be doing it.

[Ron Swanson]

Everyone kept saying Miami was gonna end up the 4/5 seed just a couple weeks ago, but here they are now on a 4-game losing streak and just 4-games out of the 9-seed. Chicago has the 2nd easiest schedule down the stretch, and that Monday game for Miami against Philly (on the 2nd night of a B2B) could be a pretty huge deciding factor in the final standings.

[skbucks1985]

The flip side of that is the Heat are 2.5 games out of 5th and 3.5 games out of 4th. And they've got the 3rd easiest remaining schedule, the difference in schedule difficulty between them and the Bulls is negligible. I'd be very surprised if they ended up on the 9-10 line because not only would it require Chicago to pass them but would require Philly to stay ahead of them.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I'm totally fine with playing Miami in the first round. Rather have them the Pacers, Philly, or Knicks. Maybe I would take the Magic?

[blazza18]

I would have not guessed Dennis Schroder was on the Nets

[skbucks1985]

I don't think its likely, but I think Cleveland is in real danger of falling into the 4-8 morass. I think their schedule is a little tougher than their 18th most difficult schedule numbers would suggest as that seems to be in no small part a function of 3 of their 15 games being against Charlotte. But, of their other 12 games the only game that should be a no-problem win is a home game against Memphis. 10 of the other 11 are against teams in the top 10 of their conferences, and the other is @ Utah who is a good home team

[blazza18]

Denver are such a well oiled machine at this point. And as I say that Murray misses a three with time left to give Dallas a shot at winning.

And Kyrie gets them with an absurd left handed push shot? My god

[BUCKnation]

Insane game winner

[tsamo]

Holy crap, what a shot by Kyrie!!
Hate him or hate him, that man can ball.

Jokic really subpar today for his standards.
16 points on 6/16 shooting with 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

Also Murray missed so many easy shots tonight.
Also also, Mavs' players not named Luka or Kyrie shot 0/13 from the three point line...

[AussieBuck]

Would love it if we could catch Denver in the standings. Sure we have work to do just to get through the East but I'd feel a lot better against Denver with home court.

[tsamo]

Would love it if we could catch Denver in the standings. Sure we have work to do just to get through the East but I'd feel a lot better against Denver with home court.

Counterpoint, I think being the "weaker" side allows us to play with less stress in a series, as we are allowed to lose on the first games.

[ShootingtheJ]

Someone on the Magic PR team will be looking for new employment

[Matches Malone]

[Plossum]

Watch out, Derrick White!

[pifhluk23]

I'm totally fine with playing Miami in the first round. Rather have them the Pacers, Philly, or Knicks. Maybe I would take the Magic?

That's silly. Miami is the #1 team to avoid in the first round, they still have all the core people there. Pacers are my #2 to avoid because they will be running and if they have an outlier 3p% series they can definitely beat us. Hawks, Bulls, 76ers no Embiid, Magic, Knicks in order of who we would want to play.

[ShootingtheJ]

I'm totally fine with playing Miami in the first round. Rather have them the Pacers, Philly, or Knicks. Maybe I would take the Magic?

That's silly. Miami is the #1 team to avoid in the first round, they still have all the core people there. Pacers are my #2 to avoid because they will be running and if they have an outlier 3p% series they can definitely beat us. Hawks, Bulls, 76ers no Embiid, Magic, Knicks in order of who we would want to play.

Miami doesn't scare me. Guarding Jimmy isn't that tough if you aren't a brainless moron. The difference we have at PG now is massive.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I'm totally fine with playing Miami in the first round. Rather have them the Pacers, Philly, or Knicks. Maybe I would take the Magic?

That's silly. Miami is the #1 team to avoid in the first round, they still have all the core people there. Pacers are my #2 to avoid because they will be running and if they have an outlier 3p% series they can definitely beat us. Hawks, Bulls, 76ers no Embiid, Magic, Knicks in order of who we would want to play.

Bulls and Hawks need to be excluded because there is like a <1% chance we play them. Only looking at teams 5-8 as we could be 2-3 and the others could fall in the 6-7 range.
Pacers seem to have our number this year and added Siakam since then. Probably depends on healthy Hali gets.
Embiid is expected to be healthy. Again, depends on health
Magic have been solid.
Miami is the worse than last year and Butler is a year older and has never been a beacon of health. He was on an insane heater last year. I really think that series was an anomaly with Giannis injured and Butler hitting everything.

[Isocleas2]

First round will be more competitive in years past, if I had to pick I'd prefer Orlando round 1 due to their inexperience. However conversely the 2nd round opponents are maybe easier, no dominant teams to avoid besides Boston. Rather avoid the Knicks and Heat if they're healthy.

[BUCKnation]

Haliburton shooting 17% this month from 3. We really played them at the wrong time.