The Race In The NBA's Eastern Conference Is Heating Up -

The final six weeks of the regular season and ensuing playoffs in the Eastern Conference have a chance to be as unpredictable and exciting as a potato sack bag race at a picnic.

The top six teams are currently separated by only five games. In 8th place is Brooklyn, a team that if and when fully healthy would vault to the favorite’s role to represent the conference in the NBA Finals.

Each contender has a flaw that could lead to a first-round loss, but enough talent that a run to the Finals wouldn’t be a total surprise.

Chicago, Miami, Cleveland, and Toronto. have been pleasant surprises, while Boston has been the hottest team in the conference, going 19-8 since January 1st.

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Philadelphia and Brooklyn traded superstars a few weeks ago. The verdict on that deal is in its embryonic stage. How James Harden fits with Joel
Embiid in Philadelphia will be fascinating.

Even more, so will be how the newly acquired Ben Simmons meshes with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn. While the Nets are currently slotted in the play-in-tourney, no team would want to face a roster with a healthy Durant, a full-time Irving, and an engaged Simmons.

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Oh, by the way, I haven’t mentioned the defending World Champion Milwaukee Bucks, led by the best player in basketball, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Normally first-round NBA Playoff Series have as much suspense as a Harlem Globetrotters versus Washington Generals basketball game. This season should be more Hitchcockian.
Health and styles will play a huge role in the outcome of the playoff match-ups.

The Eastern Conference used to be “The LeBron James Invitational”. Whether with Miami or Cleveland, James represented the conference in 8 straight Finals.

Which Eastern Conference team will still be playing in mid-June? Any guess is a valid one.

John Sapochetti is co-host of the “The Pick & Roll NBA Podcast With Jet & Sap”, which is heard on Full Press Coverage.

Follow him on Twitter @JohnSap25

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