While we instinctively call the rest of the NBA season the All-Star break, when in reality it’s around 23-25 games for teams and is more like turning for home and the stretch run of a horse race.
This is when the best separate themselves from the pack and the tough questions are answered. What questions are we watching most closely?
Here are five NBA storylines to watch over the final couple of months of the season. “I think historically, or at least since I’ve been in the league, right, the team that has kind of clicked in this last stretch, has kind of peaked and played their best of the season going into the playoffs usually is the team that wins it all.” That was Jayson Tatum, speaking just after he dropped 55 points in an otherwise unwatchable All-Star Game.
While his sentiment is not universally true, it was last season when Tatum’s Celtics went 26-6 down the stretch and then carried that momentum over to a Finals run.