This fall will mark the tenth anniversary of the NBA that changes its playoff rules and does not guarantee a division champion a seed among the top four regardless of the record.
The Southeast Division of this season is a good reason why this change was necessary.
In the history of the NBA, there has never been a division with the worst record of loss of loss of southeast this season. Upon Monday, the five teams in Southeast-Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Charlotte and Washington, had a combined record of 113-200, that winning percentage of .369 was the worst of any division.
The official low bar, for now, is a .384 winning percentage for the central division in 1970-71. That was a season in which Baltimore won the division with 42-40 and Atlanta, Cincinnati and Cleveland combined to go 84-162.
And this is the crazy part of Southeast: this season, Atlanta, Orlando and Miami seem to be more or less locks for the game tournament at this time, which means that two of these teams will reach the playoffs even though none is in pace to end a winning record.
“I do not know about the division, but I only know that it seems in both conferences that it is a dog fight,” said Heat Erik Spoelstra coach. “With the game and everything has really been good for the League. Many more teams are competing. “
Southeast that is the official Division of the NBA battlefield is not something new. There will be no team of 50 victories from the southeast this year; That is not surprising, because there has only been one, the Heat 2021-22, which was 53-29, in the last 10 seasons.
Let’s put that in some perspective. The Atlantic Division has made 15 teams reach the 50 -wins brand in the last decade, the northwest and the Pacific have had 11, each central one and Southwest have had nine. Boston is on the way to doing it for the sixth time in that period, Cleveland has done five, including this season, Golden State has done five and Toronto has five of those seasons in that period as well.
The southeast? No, just the right one.
Forget about winning 50 games. During the last decade, there have only been 17 instances, of 50 opportunities, of a southeast team simply ending a regular season with a winning record. And someone will have to go to a great tear if a southeast team will join that total this season. That said, there are still three teams in the race for something.
“I feel that having more teams involved can be good,” said Atlanta coach Quin Snyder.
Charlotte and Washington go to the lottery and have directed there since the beginning of the season. Miami, Atlanta and Orlando still have hope to turn this season something memorable.
The heat went from the game to the finals of the NBA two years ago, which is something that Snyder pointed out as one more proof that the game is a great opportunity for the teams. The southeast could end the year with the worst division record in the history of the NBA, but there is still a traction for the Hawks, Magic and Heat to play.
“We have to get out of this funk,” said Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley, “it’s exactly what it is, it’s a funk and we have to fight to get out of it … because in this league, you can turn quickly in one way or another.”
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