Today is Game 81 of the NBA regular season, and all 30 teams in the league are playing.
Since the gap in front of the East is not large, after today's game, the record of the East has changed a lot.
On the Eastern side, before today's game, the rankings have been confirmed by the Celtics in the East No. 1, the Bulls in the East No. 9, the Hawks in the No. 10 in the East, and the teams in the 11th-15th places in the East have also been determined. The only remaining suspense lies in the battle for 2-8 places.
Before today's game, the Bucks, who are second in the East, are only 5 wins ahead of the Heat, who are 8th in the East, and the difference between the 7 teams is 5 games, and the gap between the adjacent teams is basically within 1 game, which means that the result of any game may affect the ranking.
In today's game, the 76ers defeated the Magic 125-113 at home, which was a head-to-head match, and the 76ers of the 7th defeated the 5th Magic, thus tying the Magic in terms of record, both sides were 46-35, and the 76ers swept the Magic 3-0 this season, so the 76ers overtook the Magic in the ranking and rose to 6th in the East, and the Pacers had not finished the game with a record of 46-34, ranking 5th.
However, the Pacers then also lost to the Cavaliers, and the 76ers cried in this loss. Because after the Pacers lost, the three teams had a 46-35 record. Originally, the 76ers swept the Magic 3-0 and the Pacers 1-2, and the overall mutual record was dominant, but if you only look at the mutual record, it should be the 76ers 5th, the Pacers 6th, and the Magic 7th.
However, there is a special rule in the NBA rankings that takes care of the division champions.
When the two teams have the same record, the priority is to look at each other's records, so if only the 76ers and the Magic have the same record, the 76ers are ahead of the Magic. When multiple teams have the same record, the division winner will be given priority, and the division winner will be ranked ahead of the non-division champion.
It's a pity that in the southeast division where the Magic is located, the Magic is the division champion, so although the mutual record is the worst, because of the protective shield of the division champion, the Magic is at the front, and the 76ers and the Pacers only compare the mutual record between the 76ers and the Pacers, the Pacers lead the 76ers 2-1, so the Pacers are in the middle, and the 76ers are last.
Compared with each other's records, the 76ers > the Pacers > the Magic, but because of the special rules, it became the Magic> Pacers > 76ers, the Pacers did not change, and the 76ers fell to 7th place inexplicably.
If the three teams finish the regular season with the same record, it may be inevitable that the 76ers will finish seventh in the East and go to the play-in tournament with the Heat.
And this special rule is the confidence of the Bucks to deliberately lose "shamelessly".
The Bucks could have locked up No. 2 in the East early, but seeing that both the 76ers and the Heat were hovering in the play-in area, perhaps the shadow of being blacked out last season was still there, the Bucks moved their brains, and they lost consecutive games in an attempt to avoid the 76ers or the Heat by falling to No. 3.
The Bucks once lost 6 out of 7 games, and finally narrowed the gap between the Knicks and the Cavaliers, before today's game, the Bucks were still 1 win ahead of the Knicks, and today against the Thunder, the Bucks lost again, so the record was tied by the Knicks, but because of the 3-1 advantage of each other's records, the Bucks are still No. 2.
But in the last game, the Bucks vs Magic, the Knicks vs the Bulls, and the Cavaliers vs the Hornets.
The Bucks have 2 options, one is to defeat the Magic and keep the 2nd, because the Magic lose, the 76ers and the Pacers have a high probability of winning, and in the end the Pacers are 5th, the 76ers are 6th, and the Magic are 7th, and the Bucks can avoid the 76ers, but because the Heat is still in the play-in area, the Heat may be 7th, and the Bucks may also meet the Heat.
The second is to lose to the Magic, then the Magic is 5th, the Pacers are 6th, and the 76ers are 7th, because the Knicks and the Cavaliers may win, and in the end it is the Knicks 2nd, the Cavaliers 3rd, and the Bucks 4th, and the Bucks go to play the Magic.
1 is likely to play magic or the Heat, 1 is sure to play magic, and the Bucks will definitely choose to play magic, so the Bucks will most likely drop 4th.