The NBA took a breather Monday and shifted its basketball attention to the NCAA Tournament championship battle between Connecticut and Purdue, and that’s probably a good thing. At this point, the sport only has one next he’s given as it reaches its regular season bell lap.
The Celtics will play all Game 7 games at home. They are eight games behind first in the West and 15 games behind in the East. They finished their home court unusually early. But that also means the Celtics will be an interesting wild card in the final week. The Celtics also have the right to rest whoever they want whenever they want.
And this is the only time that such load management is not only universally advocated, but almost required. The only thing the C team has to make sure is that they are 100 percent healthy when the tournament begins. So they are likely to do the same thing they have already done in the past few weeks. He will take a break from his regular cycling night for the remaining four games against the Bucks, Knicks, Hornets and Wizards.
If you play 10 season ticket holders in the last two games, no one will notice or care. But the Bucks and Knicks are part of a wild seven-team group that will shake out the No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 seeds by this time next week. It’s also possible that he plays the full game against the Knicks and Bucks to send a final message to the Celtics’ potential playoff opponents. It’s just as likely that you’ll want us to guess.
They earned that right.
The remaining seven teams are now able to reap as much profit as they can. Let’s start with the Knicks. The Knicks are surprisingly still in second place (and it’s not impossible, as the Bucks face tough tests with all four remaining games) or eighth (though it’s necessary for Sunday’s impressive win at Milwaukee). (The magic number for finishing ahead of the heat is 1, which could result in an immediate freefall).
The 122-109 win was huge for the Knicks on many levels, but the immediate relevance is that the Knicks will almost certainly finish in the top six. The remaining games include two games against the Bulls (Tuesday in Chicago and Sunday’s final game at home), Thursday at Boston, and Saturday at home against the Nets. They will be favored in three of those games, but we’ll find out who Boston plays on Thursday. My guess is Kristaps Porzingis is sitting and everyone else is playing.
Prediction: 3-1, ending 49-33. Second in the East.
bucks
Bucs…Hello Bucs. Before losing to the Knicks, they had lost three straight to the rest of the league: Washington, Memphis, and Toronto. Surely they can’t fall completely…or can they? They also have the toughest remaining schedule (Boston, home-and-home vs. Orlando, OKC).
Prediction: 1-3, ending 48-34. 3rd place in the East.
magic
The Magic will also be off work in the final week with a home-and-home game against Milwaukee and road games at Philadelphia and Houston. They would do well to split up.
Prediction: 2-2, ending 48-34.4th in the east (Assuming the Bucks and Magic split, as in this model, the Bucks would win the tiebreaker as the division champion).
cavaliers
The Cavaliers had a productive weekend in Los Angeles and have been at a mediocre two-month mark of 11-17 after going 17-1 in January and February. They’ll have two layups (at Memphis and Charlotte) and a dogfight with the Pacers this week.
Prediction: 2-1, ending 48-34. 5th in the East. (If the conference record goes well, the Cavs will lose to Orlando in the tiebreaker).
Pacers
The Pacers certainly have a chance to win all three of their remaining games (Toronto, Cleveland, Atlanta)…but they also lost to the mail-in Nets last week. No wonder they lose one of them. There’s a good chance the Pacers beat the Cavs, as they have in the past, and lose the final game against the Hawks, who will compete for home court with the Bulls in a 9-10 play-in game.
Prediction: 2-1, ending 47-35.6th in the East (They beat the 76ers thanks to their 2-1 record).
76ers
The 76ers are still south of the play-in cut line, but Joel Embiid is back and they have three home games remaining against the Pistons, Magic and Nets. There is already a fire going on and there is no reason to believe it will stop now.
Prediction: 3-0, ending 47-35.7th place in the east (Lost in tiebreaker against Indiana).
heat
The Heat now have a roadie in Atlanta with three home games remaining (two against the disastrous Raptors and one against the red-hot Mavericks). It’s possible the Heat will sweep, but a 3-1 win is much more likely.
Prediction: 3-1, ending 46-36. 8th in the East.
