Eastern Conference: Who's going to the playoffs?

[Demographic Shift]

Might have to drop the Hinkies off that list starting as soon as next year.

One year I will for sure...just not sure it's next season...
The Hinks should be taken seriously I hope in the 2018-19 season....
Lots of history in that franchise...Iverson...Dr.J, Moses Malone..Chuck Barkley, Wilt Chamberlin....the fans and that alumni deserved better than seven years of self induced pain courtesy of the film flam man and "the process"

[Demographic Shift]

So its a lazy Sunday afternoon and its time to put to paper so to speak tonights games that matter in the race to the playoffs in the East...

The Raps took care of business on Friday dispatching Boston in both teams first game back from the AS break and the Whiz inexplicably shit the bed by losing to the Hinkies on the road. The Hawks have also stumbled out of the gate losing two and its becoming clear that the great Kyrie Irving simply rides the coat tails of Lebron as he dropped the ball as the Cavs, sans Lebron lost to the nocanshoot Bulls at home.

Phoenix visits Milwaukee It looks like the white flag is being raised in the land of Laverne and Shirley. Parker is out for the year. The Bucks didn't do anything at the deadline and seem to be content to slide into the lottery with the intent of adding a quality player in the 12 range in whats a deep draft. The Suns too are stockpiling picks and draft position but Devin Booker should be able to light up Milwaukee to a point that the offesnively challenged Bucks can't overcome. Suns win.

Utah plays in DC The Whiz lost to the Hinkies on the road. Yes its hard to win on the road anywhere but the Hinkes sat Embiid and had traded Illyasova and Noel. Not exactly a powerhouse is it. Yet the Hinks won. Tonight the Whiz get to take on the Jazz who have legit designs on 3rd int the West. Look for the steady George Hill to hold John Wall in check and Rudy Gobert to make life tough inside for the Polish Hammer. Hayward puts up a workmanlike 20 point and the Jazz take one on the road from the Whiz.

Blazers in the Tdot Great backcourt matchup on preview tonight in Toronto. Edge to the Blazers in this one with no Lowry but its not enough to overcome the huge front court edge the Raps carry into tonights game. The adrenalin rush of first game for a new team wears off but the Raps win tonight as both Ibaka and Tucker start to learn the schemes and who is going to be where when. Doesn't hurt Ppat is back either. Raps W and the ball begins to start to roll downhill for them.

Chowderheads in Detroit Isiah Thomas has been practicing saying "pew-pew" with his finger gun as he gears up from getting his ass handed to him by Joseph and Tucker. Its all Boston has and if he gets contained the Celts struggle on offense with no Bradley and it appears to be another no Bradley night. The Pistons are finally over the playoff Mendoza line at 8 and with a win can close to within a game of the pacers. Reggie has something to prove to Stan.. Drummond will clean up on the glass as Bostons rebounding is poor and the Pistons win one at home and the Chowderheads front office have to start to think maybe they should have added a rebounding big at the deadline.

Hornets at the Clips My pick for the last team in to the playoffs in April starts a west coast swing on Oscar night in LA. Can the Hornets Kemba Walker upset Chris Paul in the best under 6 foot point guard category ? Can whichever Zeller it is dominate the best rebounding category over DeAndre Jordan ? Can firs time nominee Frank the Tank Kaminsky win the award over 5 time nominee Blake Griffin ? No. Clips win. Hornets do live to fight another day.

The Bucks aren't laying down despite the loss of Parker and managed to beat the wretched Suns at home. The Raps took care of business integrating two new guys in real time as they dispatched the sinking Blazers. The Whiz have cooled off a little coming out of the gate after the AS break as they drop their second in a row. Nothing to be alarmed about losing to Utah but they did lose to the Hinkies and that should raise an eyebrow. Are the Whiz reverting to the mean ? The Chowderheads hung on and won a close one in Detroit as the Pistons are showing they haven't learned how to win late yet. Reggie taking a heat check 30 foot three with the lead and the ball with a minute to go shows why the Pistons shopped him hard at the deadline. The Hornets are gamers and reeled the Clips back in late and got it to OT .. but the Buzz lost another... making their designs on the playoffs even tougher.

On to tonight.

Bucks into Cleveland Without Lebron the Cavs despite two other psuedo allstars in Love and Irving are just another team. Thats how good this guy is. Without him they lost to the can't shoot straight Bulls. Korver is now limping and Lebron is battling strep throat. If it was the playoffs he would likely play but its not so that leaves it on the hunched shoulders of Kyrie who isn't up to leading this team. If Bron Bron plays its a Cavs win. If he doesn't... the lowly Bucks steal one in Cleveland.

Raps into the Home of Unwanted Toys in Gotham The Raps are beginning to pick up steam after two wins post break even without their floor general who may get the night off to be ready for the Whiz on Wednesday. The ball is definitely rolling for the Dino's and the new look Raps look like a complete team readying itself for the post season. The Knicks are the polar opposite as they continue their slide to the lottery. Phil has phucked the Knicks for yet another year and perhaps for years to come. Dump this putz already. At this writing it appears that both Noah and the Zinger are game time decisions. Remember when we used to talk about Derrick Rose ? Raps continue their roll with a win in the Mecca.

Hawks go to Boston The day ends in a "y" so I am picking the Chowderheads to lose. They are on a back to back and the Hawks have had a days rest. Atlanta needs the win to stay close to 4th for any hope of home floor. They have lost 2 out of the gate after the break and will be looking to get off the schnide. Atlanta rebounds well and Boston does not. Thomas is taking a bit of physical beating in his last two games and it continues tonight as its a copycat league and the physical approach has touched a nerve with IT and if IT is off so is the offense for the Irish brigade. Avery Bradley who can help offensively is still testing out his achilles injury and is unlikely to play tonight. Atlanta with Howard and Milsap controlling the boards and Schroeder and Thabo leaning on Isiah eke out a win over the Celts. Atlanta W.

Going to have to do it.. The Heat vs Dallas Something happened on the way to the lottery for the Heat. They are wining games. Lots of them. In succession. To quote the Sundance Kid, "Who are those guys" Well its Dragic and Whiteside, a rejuvenated JJ and the scorned Dion Waiters who are suddenly in the picture to make the playoffs. They are only one game back of the Pistons in the loss column in the run for 8th with 23 to go. Dallas is equally close in the wretched 8-15 group in the West and is only 2.5 games behind Denver. Dallas has added Nerlens Noel to go along with Dirk and Barnes and Mathews and they are at home but the Heat with a big outing from Whiteside continue their roll. Heat W.

Indy at Houston The new scab for the NBA national media to pick at will be Paul George and his likely innocuous comments that yeah it would be fun to play in his hometown if he had a chance. Watch this morph into a PG watch for the next 18 months. The circus has a new manufactured act to report on. Its already tough enough for Indy as the change from Vogels defense first approach to an up tempo game hasn't really gone the way Larry Legend would have liked it to. Tonight the Pacers venture into the town of no conscience hoist em up as fast as you can three point shooting called D'Antoniville. Thats up tempo. The Pacers get mugged tonight by the masters of the style they are trying to play. Rockets W.

[DanH]

Noah out for the year, just announced.

[Demographic Shift]

Noah out for the year, just announced.

Sad day for Noah who is a competitor.
It's not that this turn of events was unexpected as one of the three ( Noah, Rose, Anthony) who are all playing on bad knees and odds were good one would hit long term IR.

In a long line of crap seasons in Gotham this one must sting extra hard. They rolled the dice on building a team to win now instead of retooling/rebuilding and it has flopped bad. Real bad. Phil Jackson as the architect should do the honourable act and resign at seasons end. He just isn't a capable front office exec and the deeper he digs this hole he is in it begins to cast doubt on his other accomplishments....was it Phil...or was it that he had Jordan and Pippen and then he had Shaq and Kobe and he just opened the gate so to speak.

[SkywalkerAC]

One back of the Wiz, soon to be half a game.

[S.R.]

Noah out for the year, just announced.

The ongoing saga of what a disaster the Knicks are! They legit speculated about challenging for a top spot in the East but are now only two wins away from being the second worst team in the East.

They occasionally manage random good luck like Linsanity or Porzingis but can't string anything together. I keep waiting for one of their seasons to be not quite so Knicks-y but there's some kind of Murphy's Law guarantee with that franchise every year. There must be a voodoo curse on Dolan or something.

[Mess]

One back of the Wiz, soon to be half a game.

Just noticed the Wiz play at home against GS the night before they play @ Toronto. That's likely beneficial - if they don't get completely blown out that is. Save that for the latter game.

[planetmars]

One back of the Wiz, soon to be half a game.

They are tied in the standings. Wiz have two games in hand though.

[c-troop]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nb...t-take-flight/

New CBS power ranking lists the Raptors at 13th. Notable teams ahead of us... Detroit, Memphis, Miami, and Utah... what a joke.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1...ek-19-rankings

On a more likable tune, ESPN has us ranked at 5th.

[KeonClark]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nb...t-take-flight/

New CBS power ranking lists the Raptors at 13th. Notable teams ahead of us... Detroit, Memphis, Miami, and Utah... what a joke.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1...ek-19-rankings

On a more likable tune, ESPN has us ranked at 5th.

lol what in the hell

edit: Just took a look at it. What's even worse is we are the biggest improver on the board this week! Last week they had us 21st...behind the KNICKS

[Nilanka]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nb...t-take-flight/

New CBS power ranking lists the Raptors at 13th. Notable teams ahead of us... Detroit, Memphis, Miami, and Utah... what a joke.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1...ek-19-rankings

On a more likable tune, ESPN has us ranked at 5th.

Is Matt Moore new to basketball??? WTF.

[c-troop]

lol what in the hell

edit: Just took a look at it. What's even worse is we are the biggest improver on the board this week! Last week they had us 21st...behind the KNICKS

What's even worse-er is we are the biggest improver on the board this week, winning back to back games without our all star point guard in Lowry.
How do they fail to recognize these simple facts?

[planetmars]

CBS had them at 21 last week.. so jumping to 13th is pretty significant after only 2 games and a trade deadline. And honestly 21st was being pretty kind considering how bad they were pre-ASG break.

[c-troop]

CBS had them at 21 last week.. so jumping to 13th is pretty significant after only 2 games and a trade deadline. And honestly 21st was being pretty kind considering how bad they were pre-ASG break.

I don't know if you're trying to play devil's advocate but even 21 is way to low for a plus .500 team with 2 all star players.

[Nilanka]

@Nilanka15 mine are more influenced by recent trends, instead of the season overall

— Matt Moore CBS (@MattMooreCBS) February 27, 2017

@Nilanka15 they’re still recovering from that horrible stretch going into the all-star break

— Matt Moore CBS (@MattMooreCBS) February 27, 2017

@Nilanka15 they jumped eight spots this week, and they’ll jump again next week. I’ve been high on them all year

— Matt Moore CBS (@MattMooreCBS) February 27, 2017