On March 28, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued. Compared with the clear distinction in the west, the competition in the east can be said to be completely white-hot, which can be divided into 4 major groups, each of which is seriously involved. The East is too hard! The 76ers lost one game and fell three places in a row, the Nets did not make the top eight, and the Cavaliers may not qualify for the playoffs
First Group, 1-4, Celtics, Heat, Bucks, 76ers
The 76ers' focus battle against the Suns, 104-114 defeat, Embiid struggled to cut 37 points and 15 rebounds and Booker's 35 points to match, but Harden only 2 of 11 shots, 14 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists did not perform well, compared to Paul's 19 points and 14 assists, significantly better. Although the 76ers scored 10 consecutive points in the fourth quarter to narrow the gap to one point, the Suns then played 13-2 to hold the victory. A game to see how big the gap between the East and west first places is, the sun is retracting freely, and staying focused at key moments will win the game. After the loss, the 76ers fell three places in a row, with a 46-28 record the same as the Bucks, but ranked fourth in the East.
The Celtics' easy 134-112 victory over the visiting Timberwolves led by up to 28 points, and the point difference from the second quarter onwards was wide, and it remained until the end, and finally won six consecutive games. The Celtics began to show their horror strength, this wave of 6 wins, 22 points to win the Warriors, 20 points to win the Nuggets, 28 points to win the Jazz, 22 points to beat the Timberwolves, basically every game is a hanging, offensive efficiency is high to explode. After winning, the Celtics also surpassed the 3rd team in a row and rose to the first place in the East.
Now the number of wins in the top four in the East is only 1, but the losses are all 28, and then it depends on who can lose fewer games. From the trend point of view, the probability of the Celtics taking first place in the East is very large, and the Bucks 76ers may end up in 23rd place, and the Heat will lose 4th in a row, or they will fall 4th.
Second group, 5-7, Bulls, Raptors, Cavaliers
Basically, these three teams cannot rise to the first group, nor can they fall any further, but the rankings between each other are likely to change. The difficulty of the schedule behind the 3 teams is also very close, there are 2-3 opponents who will give points to the fish belly team, overall it is still the Bulls have the best chances, the Cavaliers are the worst, and the most likely to play the playoffs. With the strength of the play-off team, without Allen's Cavaliers, it is really possible to get out in the play-offs.
Third Group: 8-10, Hornets, Nets, Hawks
Now the Nets also have to thank the play-off format, today's card battle, Irving home debut, but perhaps too nervous feel bad, the whole game 22 shots only 6, and the previous few games often fifty or sixty points of explosion performance is in stark contrast, he and Durant both played more than 40 minutes, a total of only 43 points. When the duo didn't score much, the Nets had a hard time winning, losing 110-119 to the Hornets. After the loss, the Nets and Hornets had the same record, but because the hand-to-hand record was 1-2 inferior to the Hornets, the ranking was squeezed to 9th.
This is a very unfavorable situation, the Nets must surpass the Hornets in the record to move back to 8th, and then there is a card battle that will determine the final ranking of the two teams. Eighth and ninth, although both are play-offs, but the gap is really too big. The 8th can play 2 play-offs, win one of them to advance, and have a chance to rise back to 7th, playoff first round to play the East second. The 9th must win 2 consecutive games to advance, and the final ranking is 8th, which must be against the first place in the East. So every game that follows, the Nets can't relax, they have to take them all to ensure a better seat.
Fourth Group: 11-15, Knicks, Wizards, Pacers, Pistons, Magic
All of them missed the play-offs, but they had other goals: to fight for a higher pick, so the Pacers, Pistons and Magic were all losing consecutively, from the league-wide range, the Pistons, Magic and Rockets were all 20 wins and 55 losses, no one wanted to win 1 more game, and the 3 teams all had the highest probability of winning the lottery.