As of this writing, during the afternoon of Wednesday, April 7th, your Brooklyn Nets are the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. They are two games behind the No. 6 Bucks, one ahead of the No. 8 Celtics, 1.5 ahead of the No. 9 Heat, two ahead of the No. 10 Pacers, three ahead of the No. 11 Hornets and six ahead of the No. 12 Pistons (who can technically still make the playoffs I believe, but cannot reach Brooklyn).
So you get the point. There are a bunch of teams close to each other in the standings that all have a chance at making the playoffs. Therefore, with five (or less) games to go in the season and the Nets hosting the conference-leading Hawks at Barclays in a few hours, here’s an easy synopsis of the overall picture (from Milwaukee to Detroit).
No. 6: Milwaukee Bucks (38-39). Upcoming schedule: CLE, @NYK, BKN, @PHI, BOS
Jason Kidd’s team looked like a potential No. 5 seed as recently as late March but has fallen off as Michael Carter-Williams has garnered significant playing time after coming over from the 76ers. Still, Milwaukee looks to be an almost-certain No. 6 seed and should be able to hold off Brooklyn, even though the Nets can tie the season series between the two on Sunday.
If Brooklyn wins, then the tiebreaker will move from head-to-head record to respective conference record. The Bucks, right now, are 27-20 against East team while Brooklyn is 22-25. But, if the Bucks go 1-4 in their last five games–or worse–and the Nets need to go 4-1–or better–then the Nets would finish with a better record and the tiebreakers wouldn’t matter. In short, the Bucks probably won’t be caught, but it’s a possibility.
No. 7: Brooklyn Nets (36-41). Upcoming schedule: ATL, WAS, @MIL, CHI, ORL
As I mentioned above, the Nets’ ceiling is probably the No. 7 seed but their floor is the No. 11 spot. The Celtics and Heat are right on their tail–and have each won their season series with Brooklyn–with the Pacers and Hornets–whom the Nets hold the tiebreakers over–a little further back. But, with the Nets playing four straight playoff teams until a season-ending tilt with the Magic, a 2-3 or 1-4 record down the stretch isn’t out of the picture.
With that said, both Boston and Miami also play a few of the East’s better teams in addition to a few that have been eliminated from postseason contention for awhile. However, a twist to all of this is during which games exactly do these teams that have already clinched a playoff spot rest their players. The Raptors, for example, play four of their final five games against teams in this post. They might play a big role in how this stuff shakes out.
No. 8 Boston Celtics (35-42). Upcoming schedule: @DET, @CLE, CLE, TOR, @MIL
The return of Isaiah Thomas from injury has rejuvenated the Celtics a bit as has Jared Sullinger’s, even though Sullinger isn’t expected to make a huge impact as this regular season closes. Boston has to take advantage of its game with Detroit tonight because, after that, it’s a home-and-home with the Cavaliers before games against the Raptors and Bucks.
The Celtics, over the weekend, won a huge game over Toronto on a Marcus Smart buzzer-beater and could really use some magic to stave off the Heat, who have a decently favorable string of final opponents.
No. 9 Miami Heat (35-43). Upcoming schedule: CHI, TOR, ORL, @PHI
Miami, one of the NBA’s more injury-stricken teams, has gone into a tailspin over the past few weeks, having lost seven of 10. Even when the Heat win, such as last night against Charlotte, it isn’t pretty and it’s not even known how available Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside–who have been dealing with ailments lately–will be.
The games against the Magic and 76ers should be close to gimmes for the Heat but the matchups with Chicago and Toronto are relative toss-ups. Those two teams–plus the Wizards–can flip-flop positions easily (only two games are separating all three squads) and any one of them could be the No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5 seed. That could mean near-full effort from them–no resting–which would be bad news for Miami.
No. 10 Indiana Pacers (34-43). Upcoming schedule: @NYK, @DET, OKC, WAS, @MEM
A six-game mid-March losing streak took Indiana from being close to a sure playoff team to being on the outside looking in. But, with Paul George making his season debut on Saturday in a win over the Heat, the Pacers have seemingly added a second life. Frank Vogel’s team has some must-wins with the Knicks and Pistons coming up but a stretch including the Thunder (fighting for a playoff spot of their), Wizards and Grizzlies is not promising.
No. 11 Charlotte Hornets (33-44). Upcoming schedule: TOR, @ATL, @DET, HOU, @TOR
The Hornets are another team that has dealt with a bunch of injuries lately, as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is done for the season and Cody Zeller hasn’t played since March 20, to give a few names. The trade deadline boost of Mo Williams has faded a bit as Charlotte has struggled with bouts of inconsistency over the last few weeks.
They also play the Raptors twice, in addition to games against the playoff-bound Hawks and Rockets, so the Hornets will need to take down some talented teams in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. It’s hard enough to leapfrog three different teams with this little time left in the season but doing it against top competition is even more difficult.
No. 12 Detroit Pistons (30-47). Upcoming schedule: BOS, IND, CHA, @CLE, @NYK
It would take a minor miracle for the Pistons to sneak into the eighth and final spot in the postseason. Thanks to an extended Greg Monroe injury and Reggie Jackson’s transition to Stan Van Gundy’s system, Detroit would basically need to win out while four of the five other teams in the race lose out. Yeah, not gonna happen.
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