The NBA’s Central Division is getting interesting
The Central Division in the NBA — that is the Cavaliers, Bulls, Pistons, Pacers and Bucks — is turning a relatively lackluster final stretch of the season into a dogfight in the East. Apart from the Cavaliers, who recently slipped to the No. 2 seed in the conference, each of these teams is battling for seeding, the final spot in the playoffs or simply a shot at relevance once again.
Each of these teams has at least one major flaw preventing them from making it into the playoffs or getting out of the first round. And whichever team can become the least bad in the next few games will have the pleasure of being vaporized by LeBron James in the first round or figuring out what time I.T. is. Three out of four of these teams have a burgeoning top 25 player (sorry Detroit) that fans would love to see make the playoffs, so let’s dissect this ravenous race for relevance.
Milwaukee Bucks
You can’t start any conversation about the Bucks without talking about how remarkable Giannis Antetokounmpo has been. Milwaukee currently sits in the No. 6 seed in the East and it’s in no small part due to the Greek Freak’s ability to be everything for this team most nights. Even losing Jabari Parker for the season has been solved with the return of Khris Middleton and the emergence of Thon Maker. This team has everything you’d want in order to make it out of the first round, including a chance to bypass Atlanta, whom the Bucks are tied with in record for the No. 5 seed. The Pacers are also two games behind them, which makes the two’s meeting on April 6 in Indianapolis a crucial game for seeding and a must-watch for the battle between Antetokounmpo and Paul George.
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The Bucks look set to battle the Hawks for that No. 5 seed which could be the difference between playing the Raptors in the first round or the Wizards. While the Raptors have been trending up after a busy trade deadline, I’d take my chances with a Toronto team that has Kyle Lowry coming back from injury if I was coach Jason Kidd. I’d also prefer guarding DeMar DeRozan’s midrange jumper to chasing John Wall and Bradley Beal any day.
Indiana Pacers
This entire season for Paul George can be summed up by The Clash, but let’s indulge ourselves in some fantasy. The Pacers are currently in eighth place, tied with the Heat, with a brutal schedule over the next four games. Indiana has been inconsistent all season and with two games against a surging Toronto in the next five, they need to pull it together if they want to move up in seeding. The reported return of “Born Ready” won’t do much to assuage fears that this team might simply not have enough to compete.
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Indiana is in a very interesting place right now. First-year head coach Nate McMillan has dealt with George questioning the team’s effort and chemistry all season while also trying to get Jeff Teague comfortable with his new teammates and temper some of the high expectations for Myles Turner. So far it’s not worked out and George’s foot looks continually closer to the door. If the Pacers fall out of the playoffs to a Bulls team that’s been in shambles nearly all season, it might be the final straw.
Chicago Bulls
Does anyone seriously have any idea what this team is doing? The “Three Alphas” experiment was cute when trying to sell tickets at the beginning of the year. Now that Dwyane Wade has hung it up for the season after suffering a fractured elbow and head coach Fred Hoiberg has seemingly landed on Rajon Rondo in this most recent game of starting point guard musical chairs, there’s only one constant left for the Bulls: Jimmy G. Buckets. (The G stands for Gets, according to CSN Chicago broadcasters Stacey King and Neil Funk).
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Butler has posted an average of 26.7 points, 9.1 assists and 6.7 rebound over the past six games since Wade went down on March 16. After missing the playoffs by two games last season, Butler is likely desperate to make the playoffs and it’s showing. He recently dropped 20 points and 14 assists in a crucial game against fellow Central dweller Milwaukee. And the chance for that final spot is there with the Bulls playing Brooklyn and Philadelphia three times in their last eight games. If Chicago is able to sneak into the eighth spot, which it sits a game and a half behind the Pacers for, it still won’t solve some of the problems this team needs to fix in order to improve next season.
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons currently have the longest odds to snag that final playoff spot. After an 117-95 loss in Chicago on March 22, Detroit sits a game and a half behind the Bulls with seven games left. Of the four teams currently vying for spots in the Central, the Pistons are the only one without a franchise-altering player. Andre Drummond may have bars but his numbers are down in nearly every statistical category from last year and it seems the age of the bruising interior player is coming to an end.
Detroit head coach Stan Van Gundy also won’t confirm whether the team is shutting down Reggie Jackson, according to the Detroit Free Press, but the point guard has been inactive in the past two games. They also have one of the hardest schedules of the Central teams remaining with games in Milwaukee and Houston as well as games against the Raptors and Wizards. It might be time to shut down Jackson, plug Drummond back into his virtual reality free throw shooting machine and plan for next season.