As the race for the five seed in the lottery standings continues, Brooklyn simply refuses to win a game.
It was a mixed bag of results in the tank race last week for the Sixers. Philadelphia began the week in seventh place in the lottery standings. The Sixers will start this week in seventh place as well. In the last seven days, the Sixers lost ground on the Nets, but gained ground on the Raptors. The Nets still have not won a game since beating the Sixers at the buzzer in Philadelphia on Feb. 22 as they open the week on a seven-game losing streak.
There’s still enough time for a larger change, but it feels like Philadelphia will finish fifth, sixth or seventh in the lottery standings at the end of the regular season. Chicago and San Antonio continue to hold the eighth and ninth positions in the lottery standings, and in the opposite direction, New Orleans is a distant fourth. We’ll make adjustments accordingly in March, but for this week, we’re just going to track the schedules of the Raptors, Nets and Sixers.
For a reminder, if Philadelphia finishes fifth in the lottery standings, it will have a 64% chance of retaining its top-six protected pick. A sixth-place finish results in a 46% chance of keeping the pick and finishing seventh comes with just a 32% chance of retention. Just one win separates the seventh-place Sixers from the fifth-place Raptors in these standings, but as you can see, it’s a massively important difference for Philly as the team’s chances to keep the pick double if it finishes fifth instead of seventh. There’s a lot of action for all three teams this week so here’s a look at the schedules.
Toronto (21-43): 5th in lottery standings
Schedule this week: vs. WSH Mon, vs. PHI Wed, @ UTAH Fri, @ POR Sun
Brooklyn (21-42): 6th in lottery standings
Schedule this week: vs. LAL Mon, @ CLE Tues, @ CHI Thurs, vs. BOS Sat, vs. ATL Sun
Philadelphia (22-41): 7th in the lottery standings
Schedule this week: @ ATL Mon, @ TOR Wed, vs. IND Fri, @ DAL Sun
The weekend was particularly tough for tank enthusiasts as the Raptors and Nets lost games they were favored in against the Wizards and Hornets respectively on Saturday. The Sixers then took care of business as a favorite on Sunday night against Utah putting them one win up on both Toronto and Brooklyn. The best chances for the Nets this week to pick up at least one win appear to be a trip to Chicago on Thursday and a home clash with the Hawks on Sunday. Perhaps Brooklyn can be competitive with the Lakers on Monday night as well with LeBron James sidelined and Luka Doncic questionable.
It’s looking like another week of winnable games for the Raptors headlined by Wednesday night’s game against the Sixers. Toronto pays one final visit to the Wells Fargo Center at the end of March as well. It’s crazy we’ve gotten to the point that two games in March against the Raptors are the biggest games of the season for the Sixers, but that’s where we are and the first of those two games takes place north of the border on hump day.