Who do you have making the east playoffs.

[celticsclay]

We are about 2 weeks away from the half way point of the season. Who do you have making the East playoffs.

The top 8 are currently:


Boston
Cleveland
Toronto
Detroit
Indiana
Bucks
Wizards
and Knicks

Teams within 4 losses
Heat
76ers
Nets

I would guess that either Philly or Miami supplants New York. However, New York has kept winning even with missing Porzingas and Hardaway. They had a pretty impressive win over OKC over the weekend without either of those two guys.

For the Celtics sake I would much prefer we play the Knicks than any of these other teams in a first round matchup as Whiteside and Embiid could be tough to handle for our frontcourt. Philly has some injuries, but have still been struggling a lot more than I would have guessed with some losses to the real dregs of the league.

[CelticsElite]

Nets will make the playoffs. I’m going to channel my inner lavar ball and speak this into existence

[PhoSita]

I'm not surprised to see Philly struggle a bit.  They are, after all, a super young team.  Philly is last in the league in turnovers given up per game, and they're below average in forcing turnovers.

Philly has also fallen back to Earth in terms of 3 pointers made per game -- they're league average now after starting the season in the top 10.

They're actually better than I expected so far, which I attribute to Ben Simmons being awesome, Embiid playing more than anticipated, and Fultz missing time.  I expected Fultz to make them worse by requiring the ball in his hands.  If Fultz comes back this season and plays any kind of significant role, that will hurt Philly's playoff push (even if it is the best thing for them long term).



As far as who I see making the playoffs, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the current teams you listed in the top 8 will all make it.

I think Philly will finish a few games under .500 once Embiid inevitably misses a few weeks with soreness or swelling in a knee or an ankle, and I don't think the Heat or Nets have enough firepower to get them through difficult stretches.

As long as Porzingis can remain reasonably healthy and not miss too much time, I think New York can eke out an 8th seed (1st round matchup for the Celts?).  I'm impressed with the job Hornacek is doing.  I'm also enjoying the fact that more OKC castoffs (Kanter, McDermott) are playing significant roles on a decent team now that they're separated from Westbrook.

[celticsclay]

I'm not surprised to see Philly struggle a bit.  They are, after all, a super young team.  Philly is last in the league in turnovers given up per game, and they're below average in forcing turnovers.

Philly has also fallen back to Earth in terms of 3 pointers made per game -- they're league average now after starting the season in the top 10.

They're actually better than I expected so far, which I attribute to Ben Simmons being awesome, Embiid playing more than anticipated, and Fultz missing time.  I expected Fultz to make them worse by requiring the ball in his hands.  If Fultz comes back this season and plays any kind of significant role, that will hurt Philly's playoff push (even if it is the best thing for them long term).



As far as who I see making the playoffs, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the current teams you listed in the top 8 will all make it.

I think Philly will finish a few games under .500 once Embiid inevitably misses a few weeks with soreness or swelling in a knee or an ankle, and I don't think the Heat or Nets have enough firepower to get them through difficult stretches.

As long as Porzingis can remain reasonably healthy and not miss too much time, I think New York can eke out an 8th seed (1st round matchup for the Celts?).  I'm impressed with the job Hornacek is doing.  I'm also enjoying the fact that more OKC castoffs (Kanter, McDermott) are playing significant roles on a decent team now that they're separated from Westbrook.

New York is a pretty funky team. They have a real mismatch of scrappy vets and fairly unheralded young players. Everytime I see Jack passing it to Lee  (or Sessions or Beasely doing anything) I think, what a weird team.

[Moranis]

In order seed projections
Cleveland
Toronto
Boston
Milwaukee
Washington
Detroit
Philadelphia
Miami

I think Indiana will hang around, but eventually drop out of the playoffs and finish in a close 9th (so they easily could make the playoffs).  I expect New York to finish well out of it and wouldn't be all that surprised to see Charlotte pass them up with those team finishing 10th and 11th (in the mid-30's for wins).  I see Orlando edging out Brooklyn for 12th (mid to upper 20's) with Chicago in 14th and Atlanta bringing up the rear in all of basketball. 

[Moranis]

I am curious to see how everything shakes out.  Should be pretty interesting all the way through, while the west should be pretty boring with what I believe are the 8 playoff teams all currently in and I don't foresee all that much movement, except possibly for the Thunder if they ever figure it out.

[Big333223]

Boston, Cleveland, and Toronto are the obvious locks.

Washington, Detroit, Indiana, and Milwaukee seem solid, at least in terms of having playoff caliber talent. They've all had different struggles but I think they'll be there.

That leaves one spot for New York, Miami, and Philly. As others have said, Philly is going to struggle if Embiid misses any time and New York's collection of assets has been overachieving. Miami isn't great but they are relatively deep with actual NBA talent, so I'd bet on them holding the 8th spot at the end of the year.

EDIT: I guess Brooklyn, Charlotte, and Orlando are within distance, too. Brooklyn has played admirably and I would be ecstatic to see them make the playoffs but I just don't see how they get to something like 42 wins.  Orlando is 5-18 in their last 23 games, which is more in line with what we thought they'd be preseason, anyway. That's probably who they really are.

Charlotte is weird. They have real NBA talent but is this team with Dwight 6 games better than last year? It doesn't look like it. But they're weird enough that I wouldn't be surprised if they cranked up the defense and won 44 games. Stranger things have happened. But I'm not betting on it.

[MJohnnyboy]

Tier 1: Boston, Cleveland, Toronto
Tier 2: Detroit, Milwaukee, Washington
Tier 3: Indiana, New York, Miami, Philadelphia

Two of the Tier 3 teams won't make it. My money would be on Philadelphia and New York. I'm really disappointed in Charlotte because I thought they'd be in the mix but they've lost a ton of close games and have had bad injury luck.

Is it too late to count out Chicago? They've been on fire lately and they will be getting Lavine back soon. Of course, remember when Orlando couldn't seem to lose? That seemed like forever ago.

[celticsclay]

Tier 1: Boston, Cleveland, Toronto
Tier 2: Detroit, Milwaukee, Washington
Tier 3: Indiana, New York, Miami, Philadelphia

Two of the Tier 3 teams won't make it. My money would be on Philadelphia and New York. I'm really disappointed in Charlotte because I thought they'd be in the mix but they've lost a ton of close games and have had bad injury luck.

Is it too late to count out Chicago? They've been on fire lately and they will be getting Lavine back soon. Of course, remember when Orlando couldn't seem to lose? That seemed like forever ago.

I don't think Chicago really wants to make it. Ideally they play good for another few weeks and are able to get something of value for Mirotic at the all-star break.

[MJohnnyboy]

Tier 1: Boston, Cleveland, Toronto
Tier 2: Detroit, Milwaukee, Washington
Tier 3: Indiana, New York, Miami, Philadelphia

Two of the Tier 3 teams won't make it. My money would be on Philadelphia and New York. I'm really disappointed in Charlotte because I thought they'd be in the mix but they've lost a ton of close games and have had bad injury luck.

Is it too late to count out Chicago? They've been on fire lately and they will be getting Lavine back soon. Of course, remember when Orlando couldn't seem to lose? That seemed like forever ago.

I don't think Chicago really wants to make it. Ideally they play good for another few weeks and are able to get something of value for Mirotic at the all-star break.

I don't think so either but Hoiberg, who I think is actually a good coach, is finally playing the schemes that he wants to play with the team. I think they are going to see if their winning ways continues and if it does, they may keep it intact, but if it doesn't, they'll sell their available assets like you said.

Note that my optimism surrounding the Bulls stems from wanting that Lakers pick to convey to us this season. 

[rondofan1255]

Cleveland, Boston, Toronto, Milwaukee, Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia, Indiana

[celticsclay]

Well after a very ugly loss last night, the 76ers will have at least two more games without Embiid and there is a chance he will play Christmas. Seems like that is going to linger all season and I am now thinking their chances of playoffs are really small. Will be interesting to see what heat look like tonight as potential first round opponent.

[Moranis]

Well after a very ugly loss last night, the 76ers will have at least two more games without Embiid and there is a chance he will play Christmas. Seems like that is going to linger all season and I am now thinking their chances of playoffs are really small. Will be interesting to see what heat look like tonight as potential first round opponent.

I still think they have enough talent to be in the playoffs and their March is incredibly easy and is filled with a lot of bad teams (and only 4 teams from the West which are all at home and are Memphis, Minnesota, Denver, and Dallas).  If they are anywhere close after their game in Cleveland on March 1st, I'd be shocked if they didn't make the playoffs with their very easy March schedule.  Now they certainly could be too far out of it by then, especially if Embiid misses a bunch of time, but I don't expect that.

[celticsclay]

Well after a very ugly loss last night, the 76ers will have at least two more games without Embiid and there is a chance he will play Christmas. Seems like that is going to linger all season and I am now thinking their chances of playoffs are really small. Will be interesting to see what heat look like tonight as potential first round opponent.

I still think they have enough talent to be in the playoffs and their March is incredibly easy and is filled with a lot of bad teams (and only 4 teams from the West which are all at home and are Memphis, Minnesota, Denver, and Dallas).  If they are anywhere close after their game in Cleveland on March 1st, I'd be shocked if they didn't make the playoffs with their very easy March schedule.  Now they certainly could be too far out of it by then, especially if Embiid misses a bunch of time, but I don't expect that.

I definitely had them penciled in a month ago. However, their play has been UGLY. They have lost 7 of 8 and had losses to Suns, Lakers, Kings, Bulls (including 3 of 4 at home). They expect to not have Embiid back for the next two games for sure (Toronto Twice) and start a 5 games road trip. They very well could be 6 or 7 games under .500 in a few weeks which is a bigger problem in the East than years past. There is a lot of concern on their fanbase that this "back irritation" may be some sort of disc issues or other ongoing and chronic injury. Do you think it was smart for them to play Embiid 49 minutes?