There’s only so much stock that one can (and should) put into regular season performance. Sometimes, the regular season serves as an accurate predictor of the teams most prepared to wreak havoc in the playoffs. In other seasons, it’s viewed as a lengthy but altogether hollow appetizer for the real tournament. Oftentimes the league’s best teams pre-playoffs and post-playoffs are quite different. LeBron James’ Cavaliers, of course, would famously take it easy during the 82-game marathon, worried more about maintaining a healthy roster than climbing in the Eastern Conference standings. By the same token, teams like the 2019-20 Milwaukee Bucks or the Lowry-DeRozan Toronto Raptors ran roughshod through the regular season, only to be exposed in the playoffs at the hands of a lower-seeded team with a bigger and more prepared star.
Measuring stick seven-game stretch awaits Sixers
