It is February 24, 2022 and NBA basketball will resume its rights this Thursday. With the All-Star Break officially ending next night, the 2021-22 season will enter its home stretch before the start of the Playoffs in mid-April, and the fight is likely to be fierce for the top spot in the standings. Particularly within the Eastern Conference, where top teams hang in the pocket.
A very dense conference
2.5 games. This is what separates the Top 5 of the Eastern Conference at the time of recovery. At the top, Miami and Chicago are vying for the top spot with a similar 38-21 record. Behind, we have three teams also with the same record or almost: Philadelphia (35-23), Cleveland (35-23) and Milwaukee (36-24). Suffice to say that every night, depending on the results of each other, the ranking can change. All it takes is a good series to make a leap forward. It only takes two or three consecutive missteps to fall several places. Such is life in that part of the States today. Unlike the Western Conference where we have a franchise that clearly dominates the debates (Phoenix, 48-10) and where there is a minimum 1.5 game gap between each pursuer until the end of the Top 10, the East leaves very little room for maneuver, especially since teams like Boston and Toronto were also pushing very hard before the All-Star game break. If we expand from first to seventh place in the standings (from Miami to Toronto), we realize that there are only five games apart. Since the year 2000, at the time of the All-Star Break, we have simply never had such a dense, tight ranking. To put it another way, it’s very open, and the current ranking might not look like the final ranking at all. It is specifically for this reason that the last weeks of the regular season promise to be very exciting in this conference.
The Nets and the Sixers strengthened by their blockbuster trade
What makes this Eastern Conference even more exciting in view of the end of the season is obviously the blockbuster trade made between the Nets and the Sixers at the NBA Trade Deadline: direction Philadelphia for James Harden, direction Brooklyn for Ben Simmons. On paper, we have two All-Stars who simply trade places, but in reality, the Sixers have recovered one of the best scorers in history to accompany MVP Joel Embiid while Simmons has been absent all season. , while on the other side we have the Nets who add to the duo Kevin Durant – Kyrie Irving a DPOY caliber player to replace a Barbu who was clearly dragging his feet. Nobody can say how the fate of the two formations will evolve in the coming weeks but there’s a good chance that we’re on a win-win trade, at least in the short term. So while the other teams in the East can certainly be relieved to see the three-headed monster KD – Irving – Harden go down the drain, the new version of the Nets and especially that of the Sixers will make the battle even fiercer within the conference. In particular, the Brooklyn team – currently eighth in the standings with a record of 31 wins for 28 losses – is expected to put their heads back in place after the very difficult weeks which preceded the trade deadline (eleven consecutive defeats at one point), while that of Philadelphia today seems well placed to really join the fight for the top spot in the East behind its duo Embiid – Harden.
Which heavyweight will not win a single trick?
A hyper-dense ranking, teams that are getting stronger, others that surprise or gain momentum… clearly, the end of the season and in particular the 2022 Playoffs could be all-time. Tell yourself one thing, among the Nets, Bulls, Heat, Bucks and Sixers, at least one team will not reach the Final Four of the conference. The phrase is crazy but it perfectly illustrates the… madness that characterizes the NBA East today. So, who will see their fine ambitions soar in the first round of the POs? The Heat have one of the most solid collectives in the League and will play 11 of their 15 games in March at home, which may be enough to affirm their place as leader if they negotiate the (many) big ones well. appointments that go with it. We know that the seed is sometimes crucial to have a good table in the Playoffs and to advance as far as possible, remains to be seen however if that will be the case this year given the face of the ranking. Finally freed from injuries, Miami is generally in a good position for Floridians to take advantage of. As for the Bulls, co-leaders, they continue to win games under the impetus of a huge DeMar DeRozan, despite several notable absences. A resilience that’s nice to see and can make the Taurus even tougher when Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Pat Williams and Derrick Jones Jr. all return. Potentially complete at the end of the regular and for the start of the Playoffs, Chicago may be very difficult to take, especially when you remember how Billy Donovan’s men could form a solid defensive team at the start of the season. Not far from the Windy City, the reigning champions of Milwaukee will necessarily go up a gear at some point. They have had their ups and downs this season, the absence of Brook Lopez weighs heavily while Pat Connaughton has recently joined the infirmary, but it’s hard to bet against a monster like Giannis Antetokounmpo. With that guy, along with Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, along with the confidence gained from winning the title last year, the Bucks remain the No. 1 team in the East in the eyes of many Hexperts. And we almost want to agree.
Unless the Nets and Sixers are now the new favorites after the February trade. Well, in Brooklyn, it’s still a bit too messy to go on but potentially, if everything goes in the best of worlds, Steve Nash’s men could become this monster that no one wants to face. If Kevin Durant gets back to the top quickly after his injury, if the integration of Ben Simmons goes well, if Kyrie Irving is cleared to play at Barclays Center, if Goran Dragic brings a plus, if Joe Harris leaves the infirmary… that makes obviously a lot of “ifs” but be careful of the alignment of planets because it could hurt the competition a lot. On the Sixers side, Daryl Morey has finally managed to find the All-Star he was looking for to provide real support to Joel Embiid, an All-Star he knows very well since we are obviously talking about James Harden, who could miraculously find his legs now that he’s in Philly. Although some may have some doubts about the compatibility between the Barbu and Jojo, we are potentially in front of the best NBA duo. “Scary Minutes” Embiid said in particular in reference to Harden’s “Scary Hours” phrase when he was in Brooklyn. If the mayonnaise takes between the two and the Philly collective remains as tight as ever, it can indeed be scary.
Nah really, I want to warn people right away.
Brooklyn
Philadelphia
Miami
Milwaukee
ChicagoBefore even talking about the Cavs and the Raptors, there is mathematically ONE of these 5 teams that will not pass the 1st round of the 2022 Playoffs.
THE. GIGA. VIOLENCE.
– TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) February 11, 2022
All that, and we haven’t even mentioned the Cavaliers, one of the big surprises of the season behind their trio of youngsters Darius Garland – Evan Mobley – Jarrett Allen (not to mention new recruit Caris LeVert). Inevitably, as we did not expect them at all there at the start of the season, it is still difficult to place them among the big favorites of the conference but let’s not forget that they have the most affordable schedule among the Top 6 for this end of regular and that we are talking about the second best NBA defense in the East. The first one ? It is located in Boston, booming before the All-Star Break with no less than nine wins in ten games. The Celtics have also added Derrick White to the trade deadline and could be very reluctant to play at the end of the season. Now sixth in the East, Jayson Tatum and his pals clearly don’t want to stop there. The only team that managed to keep pace with Boston before the All-Star Break was Toronto, winner of nine of its last eleven meetings. Another team that could play bad tricks under the leadership of Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and Co. And FYI, no other Top 8 franchise has such an “easy” schedule as the Canadiens for the regular’s last 25 games. So clearly, watch out for the Dinos, even if they could end up sticking their tongues out at the end of the season given the number of minutes that coach Nick Nurse uses on his starters.
You understood, the Eastern Conference looks like a big jungle where the law of the strongest will reign. A lot of parameters will obviously come into play and like every year, injuries could also be part of the equation. But what is already certain is that this fight for the throne of the East will be as exciting as it is indecisive. LET’S GO!
