Heat’s Kevin Love on early East race: ‘I’ve never seen it like this’

Kevin Love and the Miami Heat have been on a bit of a roll lately, having won seven of their past 11. That includes six of the last eight games in which Jimmy Butler has missed with a sprained big toe.

The latest came Monday, 120-113 over the visiting Houston Rockets. That improved the Heat’s overall record to 21-15.

The Orlando Magic are also 21-15.

So are the Indiana Pacers.

So are the New York Knicks.

So are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Love’s former team.

So five teams, in the East, have each won 21 of their first 36 games.

“I’ve never seen it like this,” Love told reporters, via Five Reasons Sports.

For the Heat, the improved play has coincided with the return of Tyler Herro, as well as improved play from second-year forward Nikola Jovic, and even from an old pro such as Love.

He scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds vs. the Rockets, and is averaging 12.4 points and 7.2 boards in his last nine games. So he’s been better this year with the Heat than he was last year with the Heat and Cavs.

Anyway, most around the league will tell you that the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers are destined to finish with the top three seeds (in any order). But they will also tell you that the fourth spot very well could be up for grabs until the final game of the regular season in April.

From the looks of things, that sounds like a pretty accurate prediction.