It's becoming clearer to me that getting the 4 seed with IND first round (w/HCA) then MIL 2nd round is the ideal scenario for us. Brogdon was one of their best perimeter defenders and with him out that creates on opening for opposing teams.
Giannis is the best player currently in the East (and probably league too), but make no mistake, a healthy Kawhi is the guy you DON'T want to face in the PLAYOFFS and probably the best playoff performer in the East. Giannis can be somewhat limited with no jump shot, but Kawhi can score from anywhere and is one of the best defenders in the entire league capable of locking your team's #1 guy. That, and we're like 1-12 in our last 13 games on the road @Toronto. If we play TOR, I'd rather it not be until the ECF.
Indiana won't be an easy first round opponent (they do remind me of our squad last season w/the adversity), but I feel good about a series with them having home court. Detroit and Brooklyn struggled the last few games but Detroit especially has looked red hot in the last month and I don't know if we theoretically match up as favorably against their bigs (Griffin and Drummond).
Either scenario (3 seed or 4 seed) has their risks but the 4 seed might be our favorable path. I think our best chance at reaching the ECF (at least) is us getting the 4 seed, not the 3.