Down to the final two months of the NBA regular season, the three local professional teams aim to remain in the playoff picture, seize a better place in the postseason standings, or better their chances at a quality lottery pick.

With the NBA All-Star break wrapping up tomorrow, the regular season resumes with many teams ready to make that final push to the playoffs and a chance to make it to the NBA Finals.

The New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers are each within the top six teams in the NBA Eastern Conference, meaning if the playoffs began tomorrow, they would each skip the play-in round and face one another in the first round of the playoffs.

Prior to the All-Star break, the 76ers and Knicks played their final game against one another and split the season series, 2-2, with the Knicks taking the final two. Ironically, neither team has won at home against one another.

The Knicks, the third-seeded team in the Eastern Conference as of right now, are six games behind the top-seeded Detroit Pistons while only 5.5 games behind the second-seeded Boston Celtics.

For the 76ers, it is the sixth-seeded team and 10.5 games out of the top playoff spot. Philly is 2.5 games behind the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and 1.5 games behind fifth-seeded Toronto Raptors.

The Knicks could be leap-frogged by the Cavs, who are only one game behind New York, while Philly could be bounced into a play-in set by the currently seventh-seeded Orlando Magic, who are 2.5 games behind the 76ers.

For the Knicks and 76ers to improve their chances at not just making the playoffs, but bettering their own seedings, they have to overcome opposite issues: the Knicks must win on the road while the 76ers need to win at home.

Each team has more issues than just winning home and away more often and it will be a matter of how well each team did at the trade deadline that proves whether or not they can make a deep run this postseason.

The Knicks addressed their defensive issues, particularly its perimeter defense problem, with moves to acquire Jose Alvarado from the New Orleans Pelicans and signing Jeremy Sochan after being waived by the San Antonio Spurs.

While the Knicks have played three games with Alvarado, Sochan will likely make his Knicks debut on Thursday against the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons. The Knicks are 2-1 with Alvarado with an overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers, the second-worst team in the East.

The 76ers did not add or subtract players at the trade deadline per se, but adjusted the lineup and future with the departures of Jared McCain and Eric Gordon. Following those moves, the 76ers signed Jabari Walker to a 2-year deal and Cam Payne for the rest of the season.

The trade of McCain alleviates cap space to potentially resign Quentin Grimes, who is an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

Then there’s the Brooklyn Nets.

Brooklyn helped out a lot of teams at the trade deadline by taking on contracts from teams like the Raptors, Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets, giving the teams more wiggle room in cap space that the Nets had plenty of.

Through that process, the Nets acquired Ochai Agbaji in a 3-team trade with the Clippers and Raptors, Hunter Tyson from the Nuggets and Josh Minott from Boston.

In the midst of these moves, the Nets waived Cam Thomas, long thought to be one of the key assets teams would be trading for, who was then picked up by the Milwaukee Bucks.

According to ESPN, the Bucks and Nets had talked about a deal for Thomas, but never found common ground to make the trade. Once the Nets released Thomas, Thomas went right to Milwaukee.

The Nets are one of the bottom-5 teams in the league and will likely stay within the bottom of the league through the next two months. Only the Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards, Pelicans and Pacers have worse records than the Nets.

Predictions:

Brooklyn Nets: 7-22 through its final 29 games this season, finish as the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference.

New York Knicks: 20-7 through its final 27 games this season, finish as the second-best team in the Eastern Conference.

Philadelphia 76ers: 16-12 through its final 28 games this season, finish as the seventh-best team in the Eastern Conference.