The NBA All-Star break is meant to signify the halfway level of the season, however in actuality it marks the start of the stretch run earlier than the playoffs. Most groups had already performed greater than 70 % of their video games by the point the season paused for All-Star Weekend. Meaning each sport of the “second half” is essential each for playoff seeding and discovering the right combination within the rotation earlier than the postseason begins.
The league schedule popping out of the All-Star break has felt much more necessary this yr due to the flurry of exercise on the commerce deadline. The Philadelphia 76ers have been welcoming James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets have been attempting to get Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons wholesome, and groups just like the Celtics and Pelicans have been integrating main items within the backcourt.
It feels just like the title image is huge open this season, and the primary week of video games popping out of the break has provided much more proof of which groups ought to be feared, and which groups might need peaked too early. Listed here are three groups rising and three groups falling out of the All-Star break.
3 NBA groups rising after the All-Star break
Philadelphia 76ers
There was a wholesome quantity of skepticism when the Sixers pulled off a large commerce for Harden on the deadline. Harden had not regarded as explosive as he sometimes does throughout his time with the Nets this yr, and his scoring had fallen off. How would he match alongside one other ball dominant celebrity in Joel Embiid? How dedicated would he be after basically quitting on two straight groups?
To this point, Harden appears superb by his first three video games. We named the Sixers the most important winner of the commerce deadline, and prediction appears lifeless on thus far. Will it final?
Harden is averaging 27.3 factors, 12.3 assists, and 9 rebounds per sport since he placed on a Sixers’ uniform, numbers which can be near being in step with one of the best of his profession averages. He appears to have a bit of extra pop on his drives to the rim, and his passing within the pick-and-roll has been an enormous assist for Embiid and the remainder of his teammates up to now. It’s additionally value noting that the Sixers have performed the Knicks twice and the Timberwolves as soon as on this stretch, and the schedule is about to get much more tough.
Philly undoubtedly appears prefer it has an opportunity to succeed in the NBA Finals this yr with Harden and Embiid main the way in which. Simply don’t count on it to at all times be this simple. How will Harden reply when adversity hits? That’s only one factor to watch the remainder of the season.
Boston Celtics
Because the calendar turned to 2022, the Celtics have the league’s No. 1 protection by a large margin. They added one other key defensive piece on the commerce deadline by buying guard Derrick White from the Spurs, a lockdown level of assault defender who additionally offers fast ball motion and a few capturing on the offensive finish.
Whereas many have been fast to write down Boston off after a gradual begin, they’re all of a sudden wanting like one of the formidable groups within the East. The Celtics are 4-1 out of the All-Star break, headlined by a win over the mighty Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday. Boston now sits No. 5 within the East they usually’re solely two video games again of the No. 2 seed.
The Celtics have two isolation scorers in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown who’re good for playoff basketball. They’ve a dominant protection and an improved bench. In addition they have younger massive man in Robert Williams who seems like he may very well be a breakout star within the postseason if he can keep wholesome. Boston is legitimately scary.
Utah Jazz
The Jazz have been struggling when Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have been in-and-out of the lineup in Jan. and Feb. It ought to be no shock that Utah has regarded wonderful since getting its two stars again after the All-Star break.
The Jazz have received 9 of their final 10 video games, together with a 3-0 mark out of the break with wins over Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston. The streak has pushed Utah inside three video games of Golden State Warriors for the No. 2 seed. All of a sudden, that is once more beginning to seem like the workforce that completed with the NBA’s greatest file and greatest web score final season.
The Jazz’s beginning 5 has been super, and Danuel Home has supplied some capturing and protection off the bench. Final yr’s postseason run was tanked by accidents to Mitchell and Mike Conley, and if each are on the prime of their sport this yr, Utah can be a troublesome matchup for anybody.
We’re nonetheless a bit of skeptical of the Jazz’s postseason probabilities within the West due to their shaky perimeter protection, however there ought to be little query this workforce has a puncher’s likelihood to succeed in the NBA Finals if every part clicks.
3 NBA groups falling after the All-Star break
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls have been at or close to the highest of the East all season, however the mixture of ongoing harm points and a tough schedule is beginning to meet up with the workforce. After profitable 5 straight video games going into the All-Star break and beating Atlanta to begin the symbolic second half, the Bulls have now misplaced three straight to the Grizzlies, Warmth, and Hawks. The schedule doesn’t get any simpler from right here.
The Bulls are nonetheless with out Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball, and the protection has tanked due to it. Chicago had a top-10 unit earlier than Grayson Allen took out Caruso in mid-air, and now they’ve fallen all the way in which to No. 20 on that finish of the ground. Zach LaVine can be enjoying by a knee harm that has made him a bit tentative to assault the rim. DeMar DeRozan’s late sport shot-making has been saving the Bulls all yr, however it’s arduous to win towards good groups when his supporting solid is struggling to get stops.
So long as Ball and Caruso come again wholesome, the Bulls ought to be able to go within the playoffs. It’s simply honest to marvel what seed they are going to in the end get after what’s shaping as much as be a tough finish of the common season.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors have been anointed title favorites after a robust begin to the yr, however nothing has come simple for Golden State because the calendar flipped to 2022. Stephen Curry is a in extended capturing hunch knocked him far off the MVP favourite standing he as soon as held. Klay Thompson is again within the lineup, however he understandably has but to regain his former degree defensively. The most important cause for the Warriors’ decline is the absence of Draymond Inexperienced, who has been out because the center of Jan. with a again harm.
The Warriors are 1-3 out of the All-Star break with two losses to Dallas and one to the Timberwolves. Inexperienced is reportedly a “couple weeks” from returning. Getting him again to one hundred pc is likely to be the one most necessary swing issue within the NBA title image.
If Draymond is at his greatest, the Warriors nonetheless have an opportunity to win all of it. If not, you marvel if Golden State will remorse not dealing a few of their younger items for win-now veterans on the commerce deadline. This core solely has so many good years left, and failing to maximise a championship window could be a large disappointment.
Los Angeles Lakers
Bear in mind when the Lakers have been pegged as preseason championship favorites? Whoops.
LA’s nightmare season is just getting extra embarrassing popping out of the All-Star break. The Lakers have now misplaced seven of their final eight, together with a number of defeats by the hands of a Kawhi Leonard and Paul George-less Clippers workforce and a pathetic efficiency in a loss to the Pelicans. Anthony Davis is injured once more, the Russell Westbrook experiment has been a catastrophe, and head coach Frank Vogel seems like he’ll be fired as quickly because the season ends.
The Lakers are losing one other sensible LeBron James season. How LA plans to repair this dumpster fireplace can be one of many offseason’s greatest tales. This yr’s workforce appears totally cooked.
