The Milwaukee Bucks did not play a game last night. They didn’t even gain ground on the fifth seed as the Washington Wizards took down the Oklahoma City Thunder, 102-96. That said, the Eastern Conference landscape changed overnight. Earlier in the day, Washington announced they will be without John Wall for six to eight weeks meaning he might not return until late March. Then on Wednesday night, Kevin Love broke his hand putting him out for the same amount of time as Wall. All of the sudden, there are doors open for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Eastern Conference.

Wall’s injury means more to Milwaukee with Washington and the Bucks have similar records. Wizards are still a talented team hence why they beat Oklahoma City last night. They have Bradley Beal and Otto Porter who can make up some of the scoring that Wall provides the team. There’s the underrated Ewing Theory with the former first overall pick. Remember JJ Barea made a comment to him last week saying ‘None of your teammates like you’, and if that’s the case, Washington could play better without their star point guard.

As for the Cavs, they wanted Love gone, and they received a wish in form of an injury. Even though Cleveland received a beatdown by Detroit, I’m not ready to say this is going to lead to Cleveland getting the five seed this year. Rather, this probably makes shadow general manager Dan Gilbert more likely to make a move before the February 8th deadline. DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams could be favorites to head there. I’m not sure what assets Cleveland has remaining to deal people though. Isaiah Thomas might be the only one but he’s on an expiring deal. The team screwed themselves in more way than one. It seems unrealistic, but the Bucks are only two games out of the division lead. It’s worth keeping an eye on what the Cavs do here in the coming week.

We’ll see what kind of impact both these injuries have on the East, but it’s definitely decreasing the talent pool in there. I thought the East was much improved compared to prior years, so, don’t be surprised if a team like Milwaukee takes advantage.

Charlie.