New Orleans Pelicans
The Hawks are destined to make the playoffs again this season. Last postseason, they entered as the 4th seed in the East and were eliminated by Toronto in the first round (at least they can say they were eliminated by the eventual world champion Raptors).
If the East playoff started today, the new faces would be the Pacers and Knicks. Their success has pushed the Bucks and Sixers out of the picture — both teams made the playoffs last year as 2nd and 6th seeds respectively.
Why the Sixers have struggled: C Joel Embid has been sidelined since February 16 with a broken right foot.
Atlanta (42-16, —)
Boston Celtics (40-17, -1.5)
New York Knicks (40-17, -1.5)
Toronto Raptors (35-24, -6.5)
Miami Heat (34-23, -7.5)
Orlando Magic (33-24, -8.5)
Brooklyn Nets (33-26, -9.5)
Indiana Pacers (32-27, -10.5)
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Milwaukee Bucks (29-30, -13.5)
Philadelphia 76ers (27-30, -14.5)
On March 30th, PG De’Aaron Fox suffered a torn left elbow ligament in a game against New Orleans and will miss 6-8 weeks. Between Sacramento and Milwaukee, Fox was averaging 20.9 points per game. It was a huge setback for the Bucks who traded PG T.J. McConnell and SF/SG Chris Middleton (20.3 PPG) to the Kings in exchange for Fox who was the Bucks’ #2 scorer behind Giannis Antetokounmpo (28.5 PPG).
Bucks next three:
4/20 – @ Chicago Bulls
4/22 – @ San Antonio Spurs
4.24 – @ Indian Pacers
The Raptors and the Nets have won three straight. Both clubs can be helped by extending those streaks, especially Brooklyn who is just 4 games safe inside a playoff position and a game ahead of 8th place Indiana Pacers. The Raptors, who struggled early, got their act together and benefited from adding former-Clippers forward Paul George to their roster. If the Raptors play the Clippers in the playoffs, it will be Kawhi Leornard vs Paul George.
The Knicks (40-17) have finally put losing behind them. The missing ingredient was the addition of a star-player who they got in the offseason by signing Kawhi Leonard (00.0 PPG) to a mega-year deal.
The Knicks have two rookies making an impact in their 1st season:
SG Eugene Justice, NYK, 12.3
PG Rob Floyd, NYK, 12.8
The Hawks are destined to make the playoffs again this season. Last postseason, they entered as the 4th seed in the East and were eliminated by Toronto in the first round (at least they can say they were eliminated by the eventual world champion Raptors).
ATL Notables:
Atlanta Hawks (122.6) leads league in offensive rating
PG Trae Young (30.2) is ranked 4th in scoring