For the stretch run, the Eastern Conference offers an amusing mirror image to the West.
While there could be as many as six teams angling for the final four play-off spots in the West, in the East what you will see are up to eight teams either currently occupying or within five games of a play-off spot that, realistically, they want nothing to do with.
The Toronto Raptors probably are stuck as a third-division winner, with Indiana and Miami, and Chicago will again resign themselves to resting their hopes on a Derrick Rose miracle return. After those four, it should be a race to the bottom.
A play-off spot in the East this year is a Pyrrhic victory. Because none of the rest of the teams are good enough to even think of deterring the Heat or Pacers, entry into the play-offs means they will simply get to count among the walking dead who will be picked off as the East’s giants march to a meeting in the conference finals.
Missing the play-offs, though, gives a franchise a shot at one of the elite talents that await in this year’s draft.
So while, externally, teams claim to be committed to a post-season run, internally they all know the real stakes.
Get ready for the random Boston v Detroit or Charlotte v Orlando games that start to take on a feel of “hot potato”, with each team trying to serve a win to the other without being too obvious about it.
Especially interesting will be the “race” at the bottom, as Atlanta, Washington, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Detroit, New York, Cleveland and Boston play a bizzaro game of musical chairs, where no one wants to be left sitting.
The tank is on. Think of it like a relegation race, only the losers are the winners.
jraymond@thenational.ae
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