Last night the Bulls, playing without LaVine, Ball, and Caruso, lost by 19 to the 9-39 Orlando Magic, worst record in the NBA. DeRozan had 41 points but the Bulls' bench scored 10 points in 68 minutes. Two of their starters (Cook and Dosunmu) combined for 9 points in 67 minutes. The Bulls are a top heavy team - it's all about LaVine, DeRo, Ball, Vucevic, and Caruso. With three of them out they have big problems. Both Ball and Caruso will be out for a month if not more.
Charlotte, in 7th place at 26-21, lost at home by 22 points to Atlanta (21-25). Brooklyn (29-17) lost to 23-23 Minnesota despite 30 points by Kyrie. Durant being out obviously is impacting the Nets.
Miami has moved into first place, two games ahead of the Cavs. The Heat has won 7 of 10. The Bulls have lost 7 of 10 while the Bucks and Nets are 5-5. The Cavs now have the best point differential in the Eastern Conference. Other than the Heat the teams at the top of the EC have been either struggling or treading water. According to powerrankingsguru.com the Cavs have the easiest schedule in the NBA the rest of the way so if they can overcome the Markkanen injury they can realistically stay right up in the top 4-5 for the rest of the season.
For some reason the Bucks have lost two games to Charlotte, two to Toronto, and one each to Atlanta and Detroit this month. I don't know what is going on with them, but they are 17-3 when Giannis, Middleton, and Jrue Holiday start. They've had 29 games when at least one of them was not available and they are 13-16 in those games. The Bucks are another team that is hugely dependent on three players like Brooklyn and Chicago.
Miami and Cleveland are the most balanced teams. Miami has eight players scoring between 9-21 ppg while the Cavs also have eight players averaging between 9-20 ppg.
I think the playoffs will come down to who is healthy. If Milwaukee has Giannis, Middleton, and Holiday they will be tough to dethrone. If the Bulls have LaVine, DeRozan, Ball, Vucevic, and Caruso they will be a tough out. Same with Brooklyn with Durant, Harden, Irving, and Mills, although Irving will not play home games.
The Heat have the best record as of this moment. They are 18-11 when Jimmy Butler plays and 12-6 when he's out so they are not as dependent on him as I thought.
It seems like there have been a lot of upsets lately and that will probably continue as teams at the top try to win without some of their key players.