The Final Stretch

After setting off the "second half" of the season with nine games last night, a handful of Eastern Conference squads jockeying for playoff position are back in business. The Celtics, Bucks, Sixers and Cavs are the clear group of contenders comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack, but these three teams are eyeing the two remaining guaranteed playoff spots (full standings) 👇

• 5th Place: Brooklyn Nets, 34-24

• 6th Place: New York Knicks, 33-27

• 7th Place: Miami Heat, 32-27

Each of these squads play Eastern Conference opponents tonight, with a chance to work their way up the table. The next few weeks are guaranteed to be a dogfight, as all three teams have the exact same remaining strength of schedule (.512) 🔀

Each of these teams made significant personnel moves that could drastically change their outlook across the final 20-plus games of their regular seasons. The Nets, of course, made the two biggest deadline moves in the league, sending out Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving for a boatload of picks and a couple of starting-caliber players 📝

• While they may have lowered their ceiling by reducing their team's star-power, they might be better for it in the near future given the fact that KD remains out until this weekend

• Plus, Cam Thomas is emerging from Kyrie's shadow as one of the premier scoring guards in the NBA at just 21 y/o

While the Knicks had a quieter deadline than their NYC counterpart, they definitely made a meaningful move by adding Josh Hart. Uniting Hart with his Villanova teammate Jalen Brunson, and pairing them with Barrett, Quickley and Grimes gives NYK one of the deeper backcourts in the East. It's already paying dividends, as the Knicks have won all three games since acquiring Hart and have outscored their opponents by a total of 41 points across his minutes 📈

Finally, the Heat failed to swing a major trade before the deadline, but landed one of the biggest players in the buyout market in Kevin Love, who will make his Heat debut tonight ⬇️

Love only follows LeBron...next thing you know he'll be on the Lakers 😅

A Low Key Dynasty

Since 2006, no one has made the Finals as many times as the Warriors... except the Heat, who also have six appearances across the last 16 years. Although the bulk of those occurred with LeBron James leading the squad, they made in to the league's final round as recently as 2020 in the bubble, ultimately losing to LeBron's own Lakers. With the core of that team still intact, the Heat need to get into the top-6 before turning their sights towards a deep playoff run 🙏

Of the Nets, Knicks and Heat, the trio of teams playing tonight, Miami is still a virtual lock to make the playoffs according to FiveThirtyEight's projections based on their RAPTOR player ratings. However, they'll have to start that journey to the postseason tonight, with one of their biggest remaining challenges in a game at the Bucks 🦌

Heat vs. Bucks Betting Preview (subject to change)

• Spread: Bucks -1.5

• Moneyline: Bucks -120 (bet $120, win $100), Heat +102 (bet $100, win $102)

• O/U: 224

For My Parlay Gurus

Since the Bucks are likely playing without Giannis, I've got the Heat riding the energy from K-Love's debut to a dub. Plus, I like the Knicks to take care of business against a lesser team in the East, despite being road-dogs. Take a look 👇

• Heat +1.5 @ Bucks: -110

• Knicks +1.5 @ Wizards: -110

$100 on this bet would win you $264 — if we hit, make sure you email [email protected] for a chance to win up to $100*. Many will enter, only some will win 😉

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