Bucks are on the rise halfway through the season

STACY REVERE/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo dunks against the New York Knicks during the second half at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on March 11.

Boh Suh, Staff Writer

The NBA season is more than halfway done, yet it is still difficult to tell which teams are surely in for the playoff spots in both the Eastern and the Western conference. Some new teams are definitely in the playoff spotlight at the moment, including the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference and the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference. The Suns are actually one game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers, the defending champion. The Utah Jazz are still holding the first place with 30-11 record on the Western Conference, which was another surprise of this NBA season.

On the other hand, there are some teams that cannot get a win. The Houston Rockets have not had a win since Feb. 4, and are currently on 20 game losing streak. The team once had a 11-10 record and was a possible playoff team, but now they are competing with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the last spot in the Western Conference.

The main part of their struggle comes from injuries of their starters; Victor Oladipo, John Wall, Eric Gorgon, and Christian Wood all got hurt here and there, and the departure of their star, James Harden early caused some issues in this team. Still, they have young talents and a possible good pick coming on the way after this season will help the Rockets back to the playoffs.

On the other hand, the Milwaukee Bucks are on six game winning streak with a 27-14 record, only two games behind the first place Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference. The Atlanta Hawks are following right behind the Bucks in fourth place with a 22-20 record while on eight game winning streak. Currently, there is only 2.5 games between the fourth place and the 10th place in the Eastern Conference, so we will see constant ranking changes for a while.

Basketball fans may be focused on March Madness right now, but the NBA is going through its own Madness at the moment in the rankings. Will some of the Cinderella teams maintain their momentum throughout the playoff and beat big dogs? We will find out soon.