Before the start of the season, The Athletic’s Boston Celtics beat writer Jay King and New York Knicks beat writer James L. Edwards III discussed their thoughts on the Eastern Conference going into the new campaign, including predictions as to how they believed the season would shake out. The two thought the East was the weaker of the two conferences but more intriguing.
That looks to be true so far this season, but not in the ways either expected. With the season’s halfway point now here, King and Edwards got back together, joined by national writer Fred Katz, to talk about what has happened in the East so far, what has surprised them and how they think things will shake out down the stretch. Are you surprised by what Cleveland is doing? Edwards: I’m always surprised when a team is on pace to win 70 games, so yes.
However, I’m not surprised the Cavaliers are the best team in the East. Last year, the team won nearly 50 games with Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley all missing 20-30 games individually. That was a good team with a good foundation under J.
B. Bickerstaff. This season, the Cavs have been relatively healthy and have a new coach in Kenny Atkinson who has provided a different dimension offensively.
Also, this roster is deep, with several rotation players having career seasons. Advertisement I’m a bit surprised the Celtics have had as bumpy a patch as they’ve had, but I can imagine it’s a bit harder to push through the regular season after .