The top four seeds in the eastern conference are just separated by just five games with about 50 games played thus far this season.
Right now the Boston Celtics led by Jayson Tatum are leading the eastern conference in the standings at 35-13 and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. The Celtics have been leading the league for most of the season and have been the best team in basketball arguably all year long. After coming off a finals loss last season, the Celtics added and maintained pieces of their championship core and it has led them to be the best team in the first half of the year.
However the rest of the east is not lagging behind too far with the the three teams only behind by as little as five games. The second seed right now the Philadelphia 76ers are just 2 games back behind the Celtics right now on a current seven game win streak beating the Jazz, Lakers, Clippers, Blazers, and Kings all on the road during their west coast road trip. The sixers are led by Joel Embiid who is averaging 33.6 points per game and 9.8 rebounds a game. He's having a monster season so far and he's being backed up by James harden who's averaging nearly 12 assists a game. The sixers have the potential to go deep in the playoffs however their roster isn't as deep as I would prefer it to be, and recent playoff failures of Joel Embiid led sixers teams have been a constant. The sixers haven't made it past the second round since they went all the way to the finals in 2001 and the goal for this team should be to at least make a conference finals appearance especially with this being year two of the Harden & Embiid pairing.
The Milwaukee Bucks are right behind the sixers at 32-17 and only a half game back. This team has been dealing with trying to create consistent lineups because many of their major players have been dealing with injury. Khris Middleton has only played in eight games all season long and without him in the lineup for most games it's difficult for this team to build chemistry with him being the second best player on the team. Giannis and Jrue have also missed time playing 36 games each this season. The bucks are coming off of scoring 150 points against the pistons and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. Of course two years prior this core was able to go on and win an NBA championship, however the landscape of the NBA has changed. This team lost to the Boston Celtics last season, however they still have a shot at taking over the one seed barring Khris Middleton's health and also their ability to bounce back on these last these last 10 games they have played.
Right behind them sits the Brooklyn Nets at 30-17 a half gam e behind the bucks. As we know this team started off very slow, firing Steve Nash as the coach early in the season, Kevin Durant's trade request looming over the team, and on top of it all Kyrie Irving missing games due to controversy. However this team managed to turn it around and they're now fourth in the east. With Kevin Durant out due to injury who was leading this team averaging 29.7 points a game, this team was predicted to crumble however Kyrie Irving has stepped up to the plate scoring more than 30 in his past five games and they haven't completely fallen off of the cliff being 5-5 in their last 10 games.