6 Questions in The East's Middle Matchups

Analyzing Knicks vs. Pistons and Pacers vs. Bucks

We’re officially in playoff territory — though the Play-In is still to come, but more on that later in the week.

Anyway, playoffs!

The East has fully locked in its bracket sans Play-In teams, and you could look at it from a lot of different ways. The Cavs and Celtics are likely going to stomp on any of the teams that come their way in the first round, though an Orlando Magic matchup for either could be at least interesting.

Outside of those two teams, though, I think the far more interesting matchups come at the middle of the standings, an area in which there are four teams that, for various reasons, aren’t exactly fond of the other team on or off the court, creating some potential first-round drama that the NBA rarely finds at volume.

Today, I want to take at those two matchups — Knicks/Pistons and Pacers/Bucks — and talk about the background of each, the X-Factors within them, and whatever else comes to mind. Let’s get the actual rivalry out of the way first, stemming from the obviously very important NBA Cup…