Beware Teams with Asterisks
It’s not quite St. Patrick’s Day, and already, teams are locking up playoff positions.
* Boston and Orlando have officially guaranteed their playoff spots.
* The Lakers and Cavs have clinched their respective divisions — and, by extension — top-three seeds in the playoffs.
The Lakers haven’t locked up the top overall seed in the West just yet, but it’s a matter of time… as I write, Kobe’s guys have an eight-and-a-half lead on Timmy’s Spurs.
Boston has a massive lead in the Atlantic — 16.5 games over second-place Philly — they’ll lock up the top spot within days. Orlando’s lead over Atlanta is also in double-digits.
In other words… we’ve reached the point in the season when you’ll really have to worry about coaches calling off the dogs and giving their best guys a little extra rest. The flip side, of course, is the teams that are now going into full-on “Hey, it’d be nice to draft Blake Griffin” mode… the Wizards, T-Wolves, Thunder, Grizzlies, Clippers and Kings have already been eliminated from playoff contention.
If you have key players on one of those teams, watch substitution patterns and injury reports very closely for the next few weeks. If an important player turns an ankle, assume his recovery time will be doubled.
via Rotowire – NBA Features. (Subscription required)
