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With the all-star break over we now enter the final stretch of the regular season where the playoff picture starts to take shape. Also this point of the season provides us with interesting situations for teams extending their season and direction for teams that missed the playoffs, so here are a few scenarios for us to look out for until the postseason.
A New Team to Hate- It is crazy what can happen in a year’s time, last year the Memphis Grizzlies were the young, exciting, fun-loving team that you would root for but fast forward today and the Grizzlies are probably the most hated team in the NBA. From Ja Morant’s brash tweets about no competition in the west, to the many incidents involving Dillion Brooks have the case to hate Memphis convincing for some.
For a young and promising team that has talent and should be regular fixtures in the western conference, but they also have not accomplished anything which has caused the negative reaction to the team’s overall bravado especially with opposing teams putting a rather large bullseye on this team’s back that we haven’t seen since probably the Detroit Piston teams of the mid-2000s.
The Atlanta Hawks- Well not to beat on a dead horse but the Hawks are once again I subject to look into, especially after the firing of Nate McMillan ending the rocky dynamic between McMillan and star Trae Young but has brought in coach Quin Snyder to hopefully salvage this disappointing season. But what happens next for the Hawks? Do they finally entertain trading Trae Young? Will Trae Young have the stigma of being a “Coach Killer”? Will they make a respectable playoff run?
Currently 8th in the east with a 31-30 record keeping them in the play-in scenario the outcome of this season and their playoff aspirations all come down to one person Trae Young. Averaging 27 points and 10 assists should be a positive for the Hawks but chemistry is the much larger issue looming over this team and their future.
LA’s Title Hopes- Author Michael Connelly once said “Los Angeles: there was no rush hour because every hour was rush hour” and this line has not been truer for the Lakers and Clippers who should be desperately rushing to find a way to bring a title back to LA. The Lakers who have been a mess throughout this season and being rather active at the trade deadline to put together a team that can make a surge for the play-in is the only option for the Lakers, but with LeBron in his 20th season and the unreliability of Anthony Davis might be too much to ask a relatively new group of role players to overcome this late the season.
The Clippers are sort of in the same spot as the in-town rivals except they are a constant fixture in top half of the west but have not lived up to those expectations due to not playing enough games and with teammates, injuries, and simply not caring about the regular season altogether has the Clips in a make-or-break situation. They may have one of the deeper rosters in the league but if Kawhi Leonard and Paul George don’t play enough games or worse seriously injured keeping them out of the title picture as well as raise some very serious questions about the team as whole.
Out of Nowhere Fun Team- There are teams that simply were terrible and counting down the days until the draft lottery, but one of the teams that are in this category but are worth watching despite the record is the Orlando Magic. Even at 25-36 this team has a lot of talent to keep up with like Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Bol Bol, and Markelle Fultz make them a fun watch via NBA League Pass. So, if you enjoy tall, long, athletic, and versatile young guys playing an upbeat style then check out the Magic some point before the season is over.
Joel Embiid for MVP- Now I haven’t been shy about my view of 76ers big man Joel Embiid and his standing in the NBA, but I have to give credit where credit is due and say this may be Embiid’s best chance to win MVP. Averaging 33 points and 10 rebounds while leading his team to a 39-20 record, an impressive national TV performance against the back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic along with the “Voters Fatigue” against Jokic that will come with this year’s MVP race paves the way for Embiid to finally win the award and have some accolade to hopefully validate The Process era in Philadelphia.
Keep an eye out for these things and some other situations while enjoying the home stretch of this regular season.