Chicago vs Indiana

Both Chicago and Indiana really shot themselves in the foot by thinking that they should change their style from a defensive one that fit their personnel. If one of these teams make the playoffs and the other doesn’t, the team that does should inquire of the one that doesn’t about price to get Butler/George. I think it would be a devastating 2-3 wing combo. Heck, the Lakers should think about if they could put together enough to do it.

The nuttiest thing about the NBA is that a month ago Nikola Mirotic had one foot out of the league. He was the face of a failed experiment to play a more offensive style. He was a shooter who was only making a third of his shots. He was mercilessly abused defensively. After being benched, if he was to have asked if a team was interested in him, his agent could probably only say Lokomotiv Kuban. He strings together a couple good weeks, and I don’t think there is a person around who can be certain he won’t be this off season’s Brock Osweiler or Bismack Biyombo.

 How about the scheduling this year. Toronto and Indiana didnt play against eachother until March 19th. In between then and April 4th they play 3 times. Basically 3 games in two weeks. In this case it technically worked in Indianas favor as Lowry is likely to miss all these games but it also kind of sucks for Indiana to be in the hunt to claim the 8th seed and have to play Toronto 3 times with or without Lowry. 

Both of these teams can beat the Celtics in the playoffs. 

Why only bring up these two teams? Miami is in the same position as Indiana. Detroit isn’t that far behind either. Charlotte still has a chance, be it a slim one. Even Milwaukee or Atlanta could end badly and miss out. The playoff race isn’t just about those 2 teams.