Weekly NBA Game Thread: Week of Jan. 18th, 2021

Every Monday at 5:00 PM Central (for the foreseeable future) this all-purpose thread goes up, and the comments section is where it’s going down. This is your place to discuss all the NBA’s action happening during the week when the Bucks are off-duty.

Remember those really strange small-sample standings from two Weekly Threads ago? Well, I regret to inform you that the fun and games are officially over:

After some high-flying starts by the likes of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks, it looks like the more talented teams are beginning to rise back to the top of their respective conferences. Once you get past the top five or six teams in each conference the order you place teams in comes down to how strongly you feel about the pieces they have in place. Do I expect the Cavs to hang on and keep the Heat out of the post-season? No. But there is room for some strange stuff to happen in this strange season if the Hawks, Knicks, Magic, and Cavs are all entwined in trench warfare for the final eighth and ninth playoff spots (since a play-in game is going to happen per the NBA).

I’m just happy to no longer be on the outside looking in.