MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Atlanta is on a 10-game winning streak, its best stretch in more than 11 years. Orlando and Miami just ran off seven straight victories. Charlotte might be playoff-bound for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n
The Southeast Division is … good?<\/p>\n
Seems so. At least, it\u2019s not historically bad as was the case last season when the Hawks, Magic, Heat, Hornets and Washington Wizards<\/a> combined for the worst record by any division in NBA history. And it\u2019s possible the division could send four teams to the playoffs for the first time since 2014.<\/p>\n Division races and championships don\u2019t mean much anymore and haven\u2019t for some time. But the four Southeast teams in the mix with playoff hopes \u2014 everybody but Washington \u2014 sure seem as though they are feeding off one another and have been since the All-Star break.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that\u2019s probably a factor,\u201d Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. \u201cEverybody also knows what time it is right now. You have to make moves. You have to do something. And we knew that coming out of All-Star break.\u201d<\/p>\n Everyone got the message. Most everyone, that is.<\/p>\n The Wizards seem to have no interest in winning right now, proven by the way they played defense \u2014 or not \u2014 against Miami\u2019s Bam Adebayo<\/a> in his 83-point game last week. They\u2019ll start anew next year, they hope, with Trae Young<\/a> and Anthony Davis<\/a> to build around.<\/p>\n Otherwise, the division is rolling. The five teams are a combined 40-25 since the break, the best mark by any division in the NBA during that stretch. Atlanta is 11-1, Miami has gone 9-3, Orlando is 10-4, Charlotte is 8-5 and Washington is 2-12.<\/p>\n This is how good the Southeast has been in recent weeks: Atlanta was ninth in the Eastern Conference after a loss to Miami on Feb. 20. The Hawks were 9-0 since that game going into Monday night \u2014 and were still ninth in the East.<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s win pulled Atlanta into a tie with Philadelphia for eighth place; the Hawks own the tiebreaker, so if the season was over now, they would be the No. 8 seed going into the play-in tournament.<\/p>\n Imagine: a 10-game winning streak, and you move up one spot.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s trying to be aggressive but also solid at the same time,\u201d Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. \u201cI think that\u2019s really important. We don\u2019t want to be gambling. We just want to make people work.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte is fun to watch, unless you\u2019re on the other bench. Kon Knueppel<\/a> is a serious challenger to his former Duke teammate, Dallas\u2019 Cooper Flagg<\/a>, for Rookie of the Year. The Hornets shoot a bunch of 3s, they play fast and they\u2019ve got a little swagger.<\/p>\n The Hornets added through the draft. The Hawks might have added by subtraction; trading Young ended all the speculation about his future in Atlanta and his now-former team is 20-10, the third-best record in the East, just a half-game behind Detroit and Cleveland since that deal got done. The Heat, they just try to outwork everybody \u2014 as always \u2014 and found some gems in Pelle Larsson<\/a> and Kasparas Jakucionis<\/a> to go alongside the likes of Adebayo.<\/p>\n And the Magic, they evidently just needed a little conflict.<\/p>\n