The Celtics are at the top of the league, the Magic are near the top of the Eastern Conference and the Bulls have been better without Zach LaVine, sidelined with an injured foot.
And all three teams have a chance to keep relatively good things going in the final 50-plus games — as they have the three easiest schedules remaining, as relayed by Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
So, in order, the easiest remaining schedules:
- Boston.
- Orlando.
- Chicago.
No, it doesn’t seem fair that the Celtics enter the real part of the NBA season — or the part that takes place after Christmas Day — with the easiest slate. They already look like potential champions after adding Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
But that’s the way it goes when you play arguably a top-five toughest schedule to start the season, as Boston supposedly did.
Meanwhile, the Bulls are 8-4 over their last 12, and aside from an embarrassing home loss to a depleted Cavaliers team on Saturday, are again looking like a professional organization.
“An understanding of how they need to play on both ends of the floor for this group to succeed,” Cowley wrote of Chicago. “And the best news when the team reconvenes to host Atlanta on Tuesday night? There is suddenly a bit more light shining through the trees.”
For the record, the Celtics’ remaining opponents have a combined .464 winning percentage, followed by the Magic (.477) and Bulls (.478), Cowley noted.
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