Our true Eastern conf rival - The Orlando Magic

[Fafnir]

I think there are five teams that, if hot and playing to their max potential, could challenge us in the playoffs:  LA, San Antonio, Miami, Orlando, and Chicago.

I think people are a bit too quick to write off the Heat.

If we're talking about hot teams playing to their max potential I could see the Hawks easily taking us to 7 games again.

That would require Josh Smith deciding to:

A) play consistent defense
B) stop shooting jump shots
C) take up sorcery and cast a spell to resurrect Mike Bibby's lateral movement.

I'm not sure which is less likely to happen.