On April 2, the disembodied Bucks lost 119-153 at home to the Clippers, and the bucks, Middleton and Holliday did not play this game, after all, the team just experienced a battle with the Nets yesterday, back-to-back games These main players were absent, so the Bucks suffered a fiasco. The Bucks failed to tie the Heat after the loss, and they still finish second in the East, but have little advantage over the Celtics and 76ers behind them.
The Heat are currently in first place with 49 wins and 28 losses, and they are likely to finish first in the East in the regular season. The Bucks are second with 48 wins and 29 losses, the Celtics are 47 wins and 30 losses, and the 76ers are 46 wins and 30 losses, respectively, in third and fourth place, except for the Heat, the remaining 3 teams as a whole are not big gaps, with only 1.5 wins. In the following games, the card slot of the top teams in the East is very critical.
There is no doubt that no one wants to meet the Nets with Durant and Irving in the first round of the playoffs, and the Nets are likely to play in the playoffs at the moment, and even in the regular season, they may be ranked 9-10, so they can only fight for the eighth place in the regular season in the playoffs. Because the nets, Hornets and Hawks have the same record at the moment, it is still crucial that the three teams can play against the Cavaliers who are likely to determine the seventh place in the first round of the playoffs. So if the Nets can make it to the playoffs, whether they will be seventh or eighth is still unknown.
The playoffs were first vs. eighth, second vs. seventh, so if you don't want to meet the Nets in the first round of the playoffs, the 1st and 2nd places in the East aren't safe. In fact, if they can finish third or fourth in the East in the regular season, it's the best result, because it means they have a chance to meet the Raptors in the first round of the playoffs.
Compared with the Nets and Bulls, there is no doubt that the overall strength of the Raptors is weaker, although their performance has been very strong recently, directly overtaking and throwing off the Cavaliers, and also chasing the Bulls, it is very likely to lock in a place directly to the playoffs, but the overall strength level, this team that won the championship in 2019 is inferior to the Nets and bulls.
So the current situation is that the top teams in the East, if they don't want to meet the Nets in the first round of the playoffs, need to try not to get the first or second place as much as possible. The ideal "sweets" are to meet the Raptors in the first round of the playoffs, and the position in the regular season needs to be ranked third or fourth.
Of course, for teams that aspire to attack the championship, not choosing opponents in the playoffs is a symbol of confidence, and look forward to the performance of these teams in the East to see how the final ranking will be.