I think the Timberwolves do not and this iteration of the Magic is definitely not a .500+ team
Pistons come back from 22 down to win. Cade with 32-9–7
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.500 at this point of the season is a sign of progress.
Ausar’s absence, along with Ivey’s, has forced players to move up in the rotation, which isn’t ideal. I hope Ausar feels better from whatever illness he is currently battling.
The Pistons need to swing for a guard in the trade market. Not sure how Langdon can do it, but they need an another lead guard when Cade is on the bench and also to keep Beasley on the bench as a 6th man.
I was prematurely right about the T-Wolves. They’re back above .500! 
And Orlando beat the Knicks tonight, even though they’re now down Jalen Suggs, too.
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A half game behind Miami who’s in the 6th spot. My hope for this year has been upgrading to “bringing playoff (or play-in) basketball to LCA.”
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I thought there was a chance that we could win 30 or so games but the high 20’s was more realistic. Now, we’re on pace to win 41. There’s a lot of season left and a collapse is possible but things are certainly trending in the right direction.
Driving home from the game, I heard a crazy stat: Through 36 games we have the same amount of wins as if you added up all the wins we had through 36 games over the last 3 seasons (3-33, 8-28, 7-29).
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Monty is a basketball terrorist. Ruined the young core’s development. A competent coach who cares probably gets the team to win 30 games and that would’ve been a good progression from 20 something win to 30 something win to a 41 win pace.
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Well Miami is obviously trending down. The Podcast That Shall Not Be Named guys had picked Detroit for the play-in relatively early due to a combo of team quality and how many teams are actually striving for it, and I see it playing out that way right now obviously. I do think the sixers will pass them barring significant further injury issues there. The Hawks are in a similar spot of being an ok team that’s trying, ditto the Pacers. I guess if I had to bet I’d say “high play-in” for the Pistons?
I think we’ll see protected seeds of Cleveland, Boston, New York, Orlando, Milwaukee, Philadelphia.
I think Orlando is the 3rd best team, but injuries could really sink them. Look at the rotation from their win over the (Towns-less) Knicks:
This is gross!
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It’s a team full of lengthy athletes. They will defend but they don’t have anyone who can be the top 2 options. They need Paolo and Franz back for the playoff bad.
do they have someone who can be a third option in that rotation (Carter is a solid 4th!)? Cole Anthony is hte guy playing on ball and he was getting 12 minutes a game until everyone got hurt!
You still believe in Philly at 14-20???
Likely depends on health, but Philly is 7-1 in the last 8 games that Embiid played in without fracturing his sinus. Makes sense
i think this is a good article
They were 3-14
11-6 since
They’re clearly better than they group at .500, not positive they’ll catch them
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KCP has shown some signs of life, after a bad first 30 games.
Never did I think that we’d have a 10-game stretch this season where we went 8-2. Not to mention that we had a west coast trip in that equation.
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All-star is a lock for Cade. Luka injury opens the door for All NBA talks
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My votes for the G for the Eastern Conference are Trae and Cade (hey it rhymed!)
Cade is not all nba lol
Right now he’s like the….10th? 11th? Best guard in the NBA. There are a number of guys over him who have played like 1/3 less
If all of them keep playing 1/3 less I guess I will agree with the premise
Shea
Luka
Brunson
Curry
Garland
Lillard
Ja
Kyrie
Hali
Probably a tie w/Fox? Herro probably close
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