Analysis:
1. Are the Suns in Trouble?
4 of their 26 wins are against the Bobcats, Magic, and Warriors, and they face the toughest schedule the rest of the way. The good news for them is that the Clippers haven't faced a monster schedule either, and the upstart Kings haven't figured out how to win on the road. Expect this division race to go right down to the wire.
2. That Southeast Division, tho
Having two tanking teams in the same division with the new re-alignment can really skew the numbers for SOS and overall record as 3 of the 7 easiest schedules have been from that division (with the other two teams being the Bobcats and Magic). Can this tell us who's going to win? I don't think so, as the Hawks and Heat both have fairly average SOS's the rest of the way.
3. Which team not currently in the playoff picture has the best chance?
In both conferences, the difference between the 8th and 9th seeds are 3 games. Unfortunately, none of the 9 seeds have particularly easy schedules in the second half. If any team has a chance of sneaking in, I'd say it'd be the Kings who have the 9th easiest schedule the rest of the way.
4. Can the Pacers hold on?
These rankings have pretty much hated the Pacers all season, with the Bulls and Bucks having the two easiest schedules the rest of the way, I expect the Pacers to fall out of the division lead at some point in the second half.
It seems like the very unbalanced early records have worked themselves out, and with about half the season gone, no team is punch significantly above or below their weight. Look for an exciting 'down the stretch' article as the number of games left decreases and there's increased variation for strength of schedules during the playoff pushes.
