The NBA Standings continue going through mini seismic shifts. The Los Angeles Lakers are convinced they can win a championship if they make the playoffs, the New York Knicks won their first division title since forever and the Atlanta Hawks are making a last minute run at the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference. With exactly a week of basketball left, what will be the outcome of these races?
Well, let's get the Knicks out of the way since they are the simplest situation to discuss. They are on a 13-game winning streak as Carmelo Anthony looks to be taken by the fact that he is the only member of the Top 5 2003 NBA Draft picks to have yet won a championship ring. Not many are counting the Knicks as a legit championship contender, but like Kobe Bryant is saying, all a team needs to do is get in and they have new life.
Speaking of Bryant, he led his Lakers to a 104-96 victory over the New Orleans Hornets. Metta World Peace returned from knee surgery like nothing had occurred. The Lakers are in control of their destiny. They have four games remaining in the next week of the regular season and the Utah Jazz play three while trailing the Lakers half a game in the standings.
However, as the schedule shows, the Lakers face tough opponents in their last three games. L.A. will see the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets to close out the season. It's not the worst schedule, but by no means is it an ideal schedule as all of these teams have something to play for. Even if these teams weren't contending, how good would it be to say you were responsible for not allowing Bryant in the playoffs?
The Hawks are making the last week of the season pretty interesting. They have four games remaining in the regular season and three of these four games are against sub-.500 teams. The Bulls on the other have a handful of games (literally five games remaining) and they see the Knicks and the Miami Heat in that stretch, opponents strong enough to knock the Bulls out of the fifth seed.
This will only be good news for the Brooklyn Nets who could depart from the playoffs in the first round if they face the Bulls as they went 1-3 against Chicago in the season. The Hawks aren't as tough on defense, though they are a relatively competitive team. The Bulls would have to face the Indiana Pacers in the first round and this would bring back memories of the late 90's when Michael Jordan and his Bulls went head-to-head with Reggie Miller and the Pacers.
There are exactly eight days of basketball remaining in the 2013 season. Make them count!
