Technically the 2nd half starts tomorrow night, so looking at the field:
Denver has won 8 straight and have looked amazing in that stretch. They seem to have figured things out and are locked in. I originally thought Memphis was the 2nd best in the West behind OKC but now I think it's clearly Denver. A Denver-OKC WCF would be amazing to witness. Jokic vs. SGA.
Houston has slipped. They feel more like a team headed towards a 1st round exit more than a team reaching the WCF, especially if their first round opponent is the Lakers. I had high hopes for them but they are fading and I think they will be more focused on an aggressive offseason trying to land a big fish to pair with Green/Thompson/Sengun (maybe Giannis or Durant?). They might have a chance to win a playoff series but only if they draw someone that's not the Lakers first round. Lakers have the experience and easily the two best players in a series.
In the East, I really do feel it's just Cleveland and Boston in Tier 1, then NY-IND-MIL in Tier 2 in that order. That's about it. I still think Cleveland is the team to beat in the East but Boston absolutely has a chance to beat them if they stay healthy. I think for most of the 2nd half the drama in the East will be seeds 7-10. CLE and BOS are basically locked into 1 and 2 unless they have a catastrophic stretch and/or NY gets white hot.
For the C's, they just need to prioritize health. They can probably just sleepwalk to the 2 seed and they also own the tiebreaker over NY currently.
