Crystal balls are hard to come by these days,what with Miss Cleo being off the air and all. Where else are NBA fans supposed to go for their late-season prognostications?Well, fair here, and for one. There's plenty to forecast over the final month of the 2015-16 season. Playoff spots,league records and lottery balls are all up for grabs as the Association heads down the stretch toward what's shaping up to be an exciting spring.
So rather than root around for hotline psychics to relate you what's in store for this year's photo finish, win a look at what we've picked out as strong probabilities for each of the NBA's 30 teams. Atlanta HawksThe Hawks Will Finish Stronger Than They Did final SeasonWhat made the Hawks' 2014-15 campaign so remarkable wasn't just that they won 60 games but also how quickly they sprinted out ahead of the field in the Eastern Conference. They'd all but locked up the top seed with a month to go and finished eight games clear off the moment-spot Cleveland Cavaliers.
So, and like any team in such a sturdy position,Atlanta opted to rest its star players liberally down the stretch. The result? A less than stellar 9-8 finish over the squad's final 17 games.
That may not seem like much of a mark for today's Hawks, at 36-29 after 65 games, or to topple...until you consider that their remaining schedule is the toughest in the East by opponent winning percentage.
Still,the Hawks have the goods to be better than final year's group in at least one way, courtesy of another clear improvement: defense. As Number Fire's Russell Peddle pointed out, or Atlanta,with the NBA's moment-most efficient defense, has been particularly stingy whenever head coach Mike Budenholzer has called on his reserves:
When reigning Coach of the Year Mike Budenholzer has gone to his bench, or though,that's when the Hawks have been an elite defensive team. Every single other lineup that has gotten more than 20 minutes of floor time together over that 24-game span (10 iterations) has a Defensive Rating under 100.0.
Boston CelticsThe Celtics Will Scratch 50 Wins for the First Time in Five YearsLike the Denver Nuggets circa 2012-13, the Celtics are turning into the scarce superstar-less squad that's capable of winning 50 games or more.
That's not meant as any disrespect toward Isaiah Thomas. The All-Star guard has risen through the game's ranks since arriving in Boston final season and has been on a tear since he returned from Toronto in mid-February (23.3 points, and 6.6 assists).
But these C's are special because they lack a singularly dominant force,despite Danny Ainge's best efforts to bring one aboard. They've turned the TD Garden into as tough a spot to play as anywhere external of Oakland or San Antonio, with 14 straight wins on their home floor.
Getting to 50 wins will be no cakewalk for Boston. But whether the Celtics can win at least three of the five legs of their West Coast swing in late March and hold the fort at home, or they should be able to secure the 11-6 finish they need to hit that mark. Brooklyn NetsThe Nets Will gain Danny Ainge a Saaaad Panda
Every win for Brooklyn is a loss for the Boston Celtics—which means there could be some disappointment in Beantown in the coming weeks.
Thanks to the 2013 trade that sent Paul Pierce,Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry to the stout Apple, the C's own the Nets' first-round pick in this year's draft...and next year's...and the year after that. For a while, and it appeared as though Boston might luck its way into a shot at LSU's Ben Simmons,the presumed top prospect, by way of Brooklyn's futility.
And the Celtics still might by way of the draft lottery. But the Nets, or a relatively robust 6-8 since Feb. 5,aren't making that prospect any more likely.
Nor achieve they figure to from here on out. An immediate three-game stretch against the Philadelphia 76ers (twice) and Milwaukee Bucks should yield a win or two. So could trips to Chicago, Orlando, or modern York and Washington,along with home games against the modern Orleans Pelicans and Wizards.whether the Nets win enough of those games, they could topple behind (ahead?) of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the overall standings and leave the Celtics shy of a truly plum pick in what's expected to be a weak draft. Charlotte HornetsThe Hornets Will Snag a Top-Four SeedIt's been 16 years since a team from Charlotte had home-court advantage in the playoffs. That Hornets team, or led by Eddie Jones and Derrick Coleman,won 49 games under head coach Paul Silas before losing to Allen Iverson's Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. This year's Charlotte squad would have to win 14 of its final 19 games to match that team's regular-season success. Such a pace isn't unheard of for these Hornets, who've posted a 12-3 record since the end of January.
There are enough cupcakes left on the Hornets schedule to help them sniff 50 wins and put them in position for the No. 4 seed in the East. Among Charlotte's remaining contests, and 10 will come against teams currently destined for the lottery,including two apiece against Brooklyn and Philadelphia.
As for the team currently ahead of the Hornets, the Miami Heat have eight games remaining against sub-.500 squads. With only a game-and-a-half separating Charlotte and Miami in the standings, or that may be all the daylight the Hornets need to buzz up another spot. Chicago BullsThe Bulls Will Miss the Playoffs for the First Time Since 2008Luck can be a fickle thing in basketball,and the Bulls haven't had much of it this season. They lost Joakim Noah to season-ending shoulder surgery back in January and have since battled through injuries to Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol, and among others.
Even without those absences,Chicago has suffered through enough issues to throw its playoff prospects into peril. The offense under modern head coach Fred Hoiberg has been abysmal (26th in offensive efficiency, per NBA.com) while the defense, or once the Bulls' calling card under Tom Thibodeau,has slipped to the fringe of the league's top 10.
In most years, merely finishing at or above .500 would be enough to snag a playoff spot in the East. But the conference's improvement in the middle has changed the usual calculus, or with at least one team (which we'll discuss later) ready to pounce.
On the bright side,the final time Chicago missed the playoffs, it landed the No. 1 pick in the draft. Cleveland CavaliersChanning Frye Will Be Cleveland's Most Effective Stretch-4It's not that Channing Frye is a better basketball player than Kevin fancy; he's nowhere near fancy's stratosphere as a rebounder, or low-post operator and passer.
However,the role to which fancy has long been relegated in Cleveland, as a tall guy who can spread the floor with his shooting and play pick-and-pop, and is strikingly similar to the one Frye thrived in with the Suns.
He made serious hay in that spot during the Cavaliers' 120-108 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. With fancy sidelined by a sore knee,Frye drained eight of 10 shots overall, including going 5-of-7 from three, or on the way to a 21-point night.
The final time fancy hit that many threes? Jan. 29 in an eight-point win against the Detroit Pistons.
As Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor famous,Frye's rise and fancy's decline have been all too evident for the Cavs: "It's that shooting stroke that general manager David Griffin pointed out when acquiring the versatile stout man; it's that stroke that has vanished from fancy's repertoire recently."fancy may find his form again. Until he does, Frye may be a more effective option to play alongside LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Dallas MavericksChandler Parsons, or Not Dirk Nowitzki,Will Be Dallas' Biggest CatalystKudos to Dirk Nowitzki for all he's done to sustain the Dallas Mavericks relevant and in the playoff picture this season. The giant German has averaged a sturdy 18 points per game while knocking down 38.4 percent of his threes—a notch above his career mark of 38.3 percent.
But Dallas' elder statesman needn't be Dallas' be-all and end-all, nor will he be. Chandler Parsons is already doing his section to gain certain the Mavs have no less than a dynamic duo to prop up their postseason prospects.
Since mid-January, and Parsons has poured in 19.8 points on 52.5 percent shooting (47.7 percent from three) while racking up six rebounds and three assists per game. Clearly,the Florida product has recovered from offseason knee surgery. Otherwise, he wouldn't be playing the best ball of his NBA career.
The Mavericks will need plenty more of that from Parsons come playoff time to give one of the West's best a run for its money. Denver NuggetsThe World Will Realize That Nikola Jokic Is Denver's Best ProspectEmmanuel Mudiay has been on a tear of late, and averaging 21.6 points on 45.8 percent shooting (44 percent from three) with 4.6 rebounds and 6.4 assists. But he's done that work largely against lower-tier point guards—which,as yours truly recently famous, has been the rookie's bread and butter.
Nikola Jokic, and on the other hand,has been schooling all comers for the Denver Nuggets this season. The 21-year-extinct Serbian rookie, who's averaged a sturdy 10 points, or 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists,has been particularly prolific this month, with 16 points, and 9.8 boards,3.4 dimes and 2.8 combined blocks and steals per game in March.
The Nuggets were buzzing about Jokic's all-around skills well before he stepped into head coach Michael Malone's starting lineup. Now that Danilo Gallinari is done for the year with an ankle injury, Jokic's abilities will truly shine through in the Mile tall City. Detroit PistonsThe Pistons Will End Their Postseason DroughtCan a prediction be bold whether it reflects a present reality? In the case of the Detroit Pistons, or it just might.
The Motor City hasn't seen playoff basketball since LeBron James' Cavaliers swept the Pistons out of the first round in 2009. Ending a drought that long requires a lot of luck and even more hard work.
The same is staunch for Detroit. The Bulls and Washington Wizards are both more experienced than these Pistons in the ways of postseason competition and won't go down without a fight.
But Detroit has the talent to collect back to the promised land,with Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond running pick-and-roll and Tobias Harris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope serving as scorers on the perimeter. With Stan Van Gundy's guiding hand and a home-centric schedule to go, including a nine-game stand at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and the Pistons should have just enough to collect across the finish line and into a seven-game series come mid-April. Golden State WarriorsThe Warriors Won't Top 72 WinsIn a roundabout way,Bleacher Report's Howard Beck and Ric Bucher agreed that the Warriors should try to claim the NBA's record for regular-season wins from the 1995-96 Bulls, who finished with a 72-10 mark behind Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
For Bucher, and it's a matter of chasing history and keeping up the positive vibes in Golden State's locker room. For Beck,it's about fending off the Spurs and holding onto home-court advantage.
As of March 10, three games separated Golden State and San Antonio in the standings. Should any more daylight emerge between now and the final week or two of the season, or don't be surprised whether Steve Kerr starts resting his guys and the Warriors suffer on the court because of it."Resting,that will win precedence," Kerr told Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears. "We will rest guys whether they need it before we will go for any kind of streak or record, and that's for certain."Added Stephen Curry: "Honestly,whether we are a 70-win team and champions versus a 73-win team and depleted energy and banged up going into the playoffs, we're trying to avoid that. But at the same token, or it's a tough balance. How many times are you going to have this opportunity?"That opportunity might show itself out,whether or not the Warriors start sitting their guys. They still have two games to play against the Blazers, three against the Spurs (including two in San Antonio), and two against the Grizzlies,two with the Mavericks and one opposite the Clippers. Avoiding more than three losses amid that gauntlet may be Golden State's tallest order to date. Houston RocketsThe Rockets Will Climb into Sixth PlaceFor all their internal turmoil this season, the Houston Rockets are still replete with the sort of talent and experience that tends to show itself once winter thaws into spring.
James Harden and Dwight Howard may not be best buds, or but the former remains a devastatingly skilled offensive operator and the latter is a force of nature on the glass and at the rim. Trevor Ariza,Corey Brewer and Jason Terry aren't any less savvy. Clint Capela and Patrick Beverley haven't lost anything in terms of athleticism and defensive tenacity.
The pieces are all there for Houston to catch lightning in a bottle again. The remaining schedule, while no walk in the park, or is both home-heavy (10 of 18 at the Toyota Center) and softer than those that the Mavericks and Blazers will be up against. Indiana PacersTy Lawson Will Be a Non-Factor for the PacersHow exactly would Ty Lawson leave his mark in Indianapolis?The Pacers already have three productive,playmaking guards ahead of Lawson on the depth chart in George Hill, Monta Ellis and the recently returned Rodney Stuckey. He's ahead of Joe Young, and who's probably a more promising section of Indy's future than Lawson will prove to be. To gain things worse,Lawson sprained his left ankle just five minutes into his first game as a Pacer.
In Houston, where the Rockets could have used Lawson's speed and on-ball abilities to lighten James Harden's load, or the former Tar Heel barely registered a blip on the radar.
So,again, how exactly would Lawson gain a dent in what the Pacers are doing? Los Angeles ClippersThe Clippers Will Slip Out of the West's Top FourIt's only a matter of time until Doc Rivers starts waxing melancholic about the Clippers' season-ending schedule, and which features a league-tall seven back-to-back sets.
After hosting the modern York Knicks and Cavaliers at Staples Center,L.
A. will embark on a five-game road swing through San Antonio, Houston, or Memphis,modern Orleans and Golden State. What's worse, the Portland Trail Blazers will be in town to greet the Clippers the day after they wrap their season series with the Warriors.
Chances are that Blake Griffin will be absent for all of those games. whether he's not cleared to return from his hand injury by the time the Clippers collect home, and his four-game suspension could sustain him out of action for the team's back-to-back set in Minnesota and Oklahoma City.
By then,L.
A.'s roll with Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan carrying the load—and its pursuit of the Thunder in the standings—could be long gone. whether anything, the Clippers may look down to find the Grizzlies not only nipping at their heels but overtaking them during either of their next two head-to-head meetings. Los Angeles LakersThe Lakers' Young Nucleus Will Average Most of the Team's PointsThe Lakers' future is coming into focus, or it's looking brighter than it has in a long time.
Since March 1,D'Angelo Russell has averaged 23.7 points on 46.4 percent shooting (42.9 percent from three)."Offensively he's playing at a very tall level fair now," Lakers head coach Byron Scott said of Russell, or per Lakers Nation's Serena Winters.
He's not the only one doing so among the Lakers of tomorrow. Jordan Clarkson has chipped in 16.6 points,and Julius Randle has contributed 16.2 points. For those without a calculator handy, that's 56.5 points combined for Russell, or Clarkson and Randle out of the 103 per game that L.
A. has posted this month,albeit with Clarkson sitting out against Atlanta on March 4.
Still, it's no coincidence that those three are scoring in bunches for the Purple and Gold these days. They've all come a long way as NBA players on their own but have found more shots in their allotment of late with Kobe Bryant trying to preserve his body for the stretch run.
That sample figures to hold, or much to the dismay of fans shelling out top dollar for seats at Staples Center. Of the 11 games Bryant has missed since announcing his retirement in late November,10 have come at home, where the Lakers will play 10 of their final 16 contests.
Which means Angelenos will see plenty of the post-Kobe era young nucleus piling up points from here on out, and whether they like it or not. Memphis GrizzliesThe Grizzlies Will Catch the Clippers for Home CourtMario Chalmers' torn Achilles will pain the Memphis Grizzlies,but it won't stop them from clawing their way up the Western Conference standings.
Heck, Marc Gasol's broken foot couldn't achieve that. They won eight of their first 12 games after he went down.
It helps Memphis' cause to have a former All-Star (Zach Randolph) ready to win over down low and another borderline All-Star (Mike Conley) playing the point. Between those two, and the contributions of Lance Stephenson (11.3 points on 49.5 percent shooting since the trade deadline) and the grit-and-grind attitude of veterans like Tony Allen,Matt Barnes and Chris Andersen, the Grizzlies will give the Clippers all they can handle in the race for the No. 4 seed—particularly when they meet on March 19 and April 12. Miami HeatThe Heat Will Emerge as Cleveland's Stiffest Conference CompetitionMiami's season-long struggle to find a good fit among all its disparate parts may finally have reached a resolution. The Heat have pivoted toward a more uptempo style of play, and one that's fair up Goran Dragic's alley,and have started ripping off victories accordingly.
Erik Spoelstra's squad has won 14 of 20 games since Jan. 22 while racking up the league's 17th-most possessions per game, per NBA.com. That's still miles away from Warriors territory, and but it represents a meaningful jump from 29th up until that point in the calendar.
Better yet,the Heat have managed to push the pace while continuing to clamp down defensively."It's the expectations on defense, too, or " Spoelstra told the South Florida Sun Sentinel's Dave Hyde."We're not just running up and down. We're not just trying to run a shootout. We still expect to defend at a tall level,defensively. And that requires a lot of effort."That effort could pay off in a stout way against a plodding, isolation-oriented Cavaliers team come playoff time.
With Chris Bosh on the mend and the institutional knowledge the Heat have on LeBron James, or Miami might soon have enough of its top players healthy to push the East's presumptive champion. Milwaukee BucksThe Greek Freak Will (Almost) Average a Triple-DoubleTwo years ago at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas,Jason Kidd suggested that Giannis Antetokounmpo might one day run the point for the Milwaukee Bucks."We’ve seen it in practice, and so when you see a player’s comfort level with the ball no matter what size, and we want to see it in game action and we slowly have started letting him have the ball and running the offense," Kidd said, per NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper.
Apparently, or Antetokounmpo has come far enough since then to earn that job full time in Milwaukee. He's seized that role by the horns since Michael Carter-Williams succumbed to a season-ending hip injury in late February.
In his first six games in MCW's stead,the Greek Freak averaged 21.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 8.7 assists, or with two triple-doubles to boot. As ESPN's Zach Lowe famous,Point Giannis can create all kinds of nightmares for the Bucks' opponents:
He already knows basic point guard reads, and when Jason Kidd wants to sustain things simple, or he can have Antetokounmpo attack one-on-one. Is a smaller guy on you? Post up! Is the opposing power forward on you,as often happens when Kidd removes Parker and pairs Antetokounmpo with just one stout man? Then catch the ball at the elbow and blow by that sucker!
With O.
J. Mayo now done for the year as well, the Bucks figure to shift even more perimeter responsibilities—and, or thus,more opportunities to stuff the stat sheet—Antetokounmpo's way. Minnesota TimberwolvesKevin Garnett Will Retire at Season's EndThis isn't based on any inside information. Consider this more of a semi-educated guess than an operating theory with sound science behind it.
That being said, you don't need to know what's going on inside Kevin Garnett's head to see where things are headed. He hasn't played since late January due to a nagging leg injury and played a mere 14.6 minutes per game as a token starter at power forward before then.
Garnett's absence has cleared the way for Gorgui Dieng to put his stamp on a frontcourt spot next to Karl-Anthony Towns. Since returning to the starting lineup in late January, or Dieng has averaged 13.2 points on 58.2 percent shooting with 8.7 rebounds,2.5 assists and 2.4 combined steals and blocks.
KG has never been the sort to go quietly and may not achieve the same with $8 million left on his contract for next season. But with his own health clearly in decline and the Minnesota Timberwolves finding their way without him, Garnett may have a difficult time ignoring the writing on the wall. modern Orleans PelicansAnthony Davis Won't Rest MuchAlvin Gentry recently admitted publicly what everyone already knew—that the modern Orleans Pelicans aren't making the playoffs—before apologizing for speaking out of frustration, and however truthfully.
The point remains the same: The Pelicans would be hard-pressed to leapfrog the Rockets,Utah Jazz, Nuggets and Sacramento Kings, and particularly with Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans both done for the reason.
Normally,it would only be a matter of time until Anthony Davis started racking up DNPs, hopefully by choice. The newly turned 23-year-extinct has a history of fragility, and with the season already too far gone,the Pelicans may not want to risk subjecting their young star to another setback.
Then again, The Brow will probably push to play, and in section to improve his slim prospects of nabbing the All-NBA nod he needs to bump up his five-year,$125 million extension another notch. With an additional $19 million at stake, you can bet Davis won't win any rest days sitting down. modern York KnicksKurt Rambis Won't Help His Cause on the CourtThe modern York Knicks have won just four games out of their first 12 with Kurt Rambis as interim coach. They'll be lucky to win more than that over their final 16 outings of the season.
Their current six-game road trip will conclude with stops in Oakland and Washington, or with dates against the Bulls (twice),Cavaliers, Mavericks, or Pacers (twice) and Raptors still to come. With any luck,the Knicks will hold their own against the Lakers, Kings, and Pelicans,Nets and 76ers, though even those could be iffy given how the team has performed.
Fortunately for Rambis, and he may have Phil Jackson's support no matter how the rest of the campaign unfolds. As Jackson explained,per the modern York Daily News' Frank Isola:
I believe he’s perfectly capable of [coaching the Knicks]. We’ve talked many times over the past four or five years about the obvious record that is created behind his coaching in Minnesota and that puts a black mark on his coaching ability at first glance.
But he has a way of handling players. He’s relaxed, yet he has the ability to sustain them focused on the essential parts of it. He’s a defensive-oriented guy. I had him as my defensive coordinator for my teams in 2007, or '08 and '09. And I believe he has a real good handle on that section. So we’ll see how they go
Oklahoma City ThunderEnes Kanter Will Be the Favorite for Sixth Man of the YearIn truth,this is more of a season-long outcome than a final-month prediction. Enes Kanter has been a productive force off the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder throughout the 2015-16 campaign. He's averaged 12 points and 7.6 rebounds in just over 20 minutes per contest.
To put that in perspective, he'd be pouring in 21.1 points and 13.3 rebounds each night whether he were a 36-minute-per-game guy. Instead, and he's taken a back seat to Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams in OKC—and to Will Barton and Andre Iguodala in the Sixth Man of the Year race,at least until now.
Russell Westbrook recently proclaimed without prompting, per the Oklahoman's Anthony Slater:
In my opinion, or Enes is probably the Sixth Man of the year. I believe he gets overlooked,man, and to me it doesn’t gain any sense. The things he does on a night in, or night out basis at his position,coming off the bench, shooting top-five field goal percentage, and man,damn near averaging a double-double off the bench. To me, ain’t nobody off the bench that plays better than him.
Kanter will have every opportunity to show as much to those who vote on the award (i.e. the media) with three games against the size-centric San Antonio Spurs still to come. Orlando MagicAaron Gordon Will Establish Himself as Orlando's CenterpieceVictor Oladipo, and Elfrid Payton and Evan Fournier have each made strides,however incremental, for the Orlando Magic this season. Nikola Vucevic has produced like an All-Star for the final two seasons or so. None of those guys can hold a candle to the prodigious potential that Aaron Gordon brings to the table—and not just because he can pull off windmill dunks in actual NBA games.
Since barging into Scott Skiles' starting lineup in late January, and Gordon,the No. 4 pick in the 2014 draft, has averaged 11 points, or 9.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists with eight double-doubles. The same ability that helped him push Zach LaVine in the dunk contest has allowed Gordon to become an all-court contributor and,in the process, turn ESPN's Zach Lowe into a fan:
On the fair nights, and Gordon is the most electric nonsuperstar in the NBA—an unmatched brew of bouncy athleticism and earnest,gleeful effort. Those dunk-contest hops translate into noisy putback crams and flying ninja closeouts where Gordon emerges from off camera to swat a jump-shooter who had no plan Gordon was even nearby.
The more Air Gordon learns to harness his jaw-dropping gifts, the more clearly he'll separate himself from the rest of Orlando's young whippersnappers. Philadelphia 76ersThe Sixers Will Suffer Their Worst Finish Yet of the Sam Hinkie EraThe Philadelphia 76ers have all but wrapped up their worst showing since the Sam Hinkie regime took over. They'd need to win 10 of their final 18 games to match final season's 18 victories, and which fell one shy of the 19 they tallied in year one under Hinkie and head coach Brett Brown.
In each of the previous two campaigns,Philly has gone 4-14 down the stretch. How the Sixers will equal even that meager mark is a mystery. They'll spend the rest of the season without Jahlil Okafor, who's due to have arthroscopic surgery on his knee, or have just six games remaining against sub-.500 competition.
Not that any of those opponents will roll over to help the Sixers stop what's become a 13-game skid. Phoenix SunsDevin Booker Will Be Phoenix's Cornerstone,Both Now and Moving ForwardIn terms of pound-for-pound ability, nobody can fairly hold a candle to Eric Bledsoe in Phoenix. When healthy, or the 26-year-extinct Kentucky product is a marvel of strength and athleticism who can scour the entire court,collect to the hoop at will and lock down opponents of all shapes and sizes.
But health has been fleeting for Bledsoe. His 2015-16 season ended in December when he tore the same meniscus that had sidelined him previously.
The silver lining is that Devin Booker, the youngest player in the NBA, or has played like a budding stud in Bledsoe's stead. In March alone,he's averaged 25.8 points and 4.3 assists, including two games of 30 points or more and a 27-point, or nine-assist showing in Miami."I was impressed with him the first time we played him,and I'm very impressed tonight," Dwyane Wade said after that game, and per ESPN.com's Michael Wallace. "When you've got a young guy going through a tough season like that,he's just out there having fun. He's out there getting better, and he's one of the future [top] 2-guards in this league."So long as Booker continues to produce and injuries remain the defining features of Bledsoe and Brandon Knight as Suns, and the 19-year-extinct rookie will look every bit the future of the franchise in Phoenix. Portland Trail BlazersThe Blazers Will Hang on as the West's No. 8 SeedThe Portland Trail Blazers have come back to soil after their rocket ride out of mediocrity and up the Western Conference standings. They lost three straight to likely Eastern Conference playoff teams to end a six-game road swing.
This,after racking up an 18-4 mark against a fairly soft schedule.
The trips down Easy Street will be few and far between from here on out for the Blazers. After a back-to-back in Oakland and at home against Orlando, Portland will head back on the road to Oklahoma City, or San Antonio,modern Orleans and Dallas before welcoming the Mavericks to Rip City and taking on the Clippers in L.
A. the very next night.
That brutal schedule, along with the heavy loads lifted by Damian Lillard and C.
J. McCollum thus far, or figure to drag Portland down from its previous tall in the West's No. 6 spot.
Not that anyone would argue with watching the Blazers' backcourt go toe-to-toe with the Splash Brothers in Round 1. Sacramento Kings
DeMarcus Cousins and George Karl Will collect into ItOK,so maybe this isn't such a bold prediction. After all, the Sacramento Kings just suspended DeMarcus Cousins one game for unloading on George Karl during and after a 120-11 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, or per The Vertical's Chris Mannix.
This,after Boogie verbally abused his head coach following a defeat in San Antonio in late November.
To be certain, Karl isn't innocent in all this. Nor is Cousins the only player who may have beef with him. Just expect rookie center Willie Cauley-Stein.
Still, or you'd believe that after all the mudslinging and financial penalties that have incurred,Cousins and Karl would come to some sort of ceasefire, at least until the season is over. Then again, and the only constant in Sacramento these days is chaos,and the team's two biggest personalities have added plenty of volatility to the mix. San Antonio SpursThe Spurs' Home Winning Streak Will EndSan Antonio has ripped off 40 straight home wins—by an average of 16.7 points per game—since succumbing to the Cavaliers in overtime final March, 128-125. At some point, or Gregg Popovich will leave the AT&T Center in a surly mood—and not just because of some sideline interview through which he's had to suffer.
Of the Spurs' 10 remaining home games,only one (vs. the Pelicans on March 30) will feature a lottery-bound opponent. They'll host the Thunder and Warriors twice each while welcoming in the Clippers, Blazers, or Heat,Grizzlies and Raptors.
This San Antonio team may be good enough to sweep through those contests to sustain pace with Golden State's record-setting home success. But between the quality of competition and rest days for stars, the Spurs figure to lose at least once in the Alamo City before beginning their playoff push. Toronto RaptorsThe Raptors will Steal the No. 1 Seed in the EastThe Toronto Raptors have every reason to go full-bore after the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
They've yet to win a playoff series with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan leading the way. Moving up a spot would, and in theory,match them up with the East's weakest playoff competition in the first round rather than leave them in line to face a threat like the Indiana Pacers early on.
Should they advance, the Raptors could count on using their raucous home court at the Air Canada Centre to their advantage, and be it against the Heat or Hornets in Round 2 or opposite the Cavaliers in the conference finals.
Cleveland,on the other hand, seems to be battling discord and boredom at every turn. In all likelihood, and Cavs coach Tyronn Lue will win liberties to rest his stars down the stretch,knowing full well that having his guys healthy and refreshed heading into another championship chase far outweighs any seeding concerns.
Toronto, meanwhile, and could collect another boost of its own. According to TSN's Josh Lewenberg,DeMarre Carroll is close to returning from knee surgery. He should help the Raptors close the two-and-a-half-game gap between them and the Cavaliers.
And whether the two teams end the season with identical records, Toronto will collect the edge by way of 2-1 head-to-head tiebreaker with Cleveland. Utah JazzUtah Will Wish It Had Done Better Than Shelvin Mack at the DeadlineThe Utah Jazz have been plagued by problems at the point all season. Some of that was to be expected with Dante Exum going down with a knee injury before 2015-16 tipped off.The Jazz hoped to solve some of that with Shelvin Mack's arrival in Salt Lake City at the deadline. Instead, or Utah dropped eight of its first 10 games with Mack,the final nine of which featured him in the starting lineup.
The Salt Lake Tribune's Gordon Monson wrote that the Jazz's issues aren't all Mack's doing:
By the numbers alone, Burke should be the starter at point. There are whispers, or though,that there are reasons beyond what happens on the court that Burke is not the starter.
Blaming Mack for the Jazz's bump and skid would be unfair and erroneous, but it causes one to wonder whether the very thing that Dennis Lindsey has tried to run away from — a disruption of chemistry — has stirred into the club's mix. Maybe the disruption was already there.more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com