NBA Rankings - 12 Apr

With only 4 days left in the regular season, there are still 3 playoff spots open, with 5 teams still in contention to grab them. Phoenix, Dallas, and Memphis, the 3 teams going for 2 spots in the West, happen to have a round robin this week, and any team that loses twice will most likely be out. If all three win once against the others, Phoenix will be the odd team out, thanks to a 1-4 record against the other two so far this season, so the Suns may need to go 3-0 just to make the playoffs. Here are my full current rankings:

Rank	LW	Team	Record	Rating	Predic	Ch	Seed
1	1	San Antonio	62-18	-8.49753	63-19		1W
2	2	LA Clippers	55-24	-6.60435	57-25	-1	3W
3	3	Oklahoma City	58-21	-5.80789	60-22	+1	2W
4	6	Golden State	49-30	-4.33492	51-31		6W
5	4	Houston	52-27	-4.31461	54-28	-1	4W
6	5	Miami	54-25	-4.13606	56-26		1E
7	8	Portland	52-28	-2.60923	53-29		5W
8	9	Dallas	48-32	-2.35329	49-33		7W
9	13	Chicago	47-32	-2.3307	49-33	+2	3E
10	10	Memphis	47-32	-2.2729	49-33	+1	8W
11	7	Toronto	46-33	-2.15125	48-34	-1	4E
12	11	Phoenix	47-32	-1.95349	49-33	+1
13	12	Minnesota	40-39	-1.40082	42-40
14	16	Charlotte	40-39	-0.26155	42-40	+1	7E
15	14	Washington	41-38	-0.07589	43-39	-1	6E
16	15	Brooklyn	43-36	0.10929	45-37		5E
17	17	Indiana	54-26	1.032625	55-27	-1	2E
18	18	New York	34-45	1.109701	35-47
19	20	Atlanta	36-43	2.386141	38-44	+2	8E
20	21	Cleveland	32-48	2.886051	33-49	-1
21	22	Denver	35-44	2.890603	36-46	+1
22	19	Sacramento	27-52	3.150539	28-54	-1
23	23	New Orleans	32-47	4.357665	33-49	-1
24	24	Detroit	29-51	5.839729	29-53
25	25	Orlando	23-56	6.146827	24-58	+1
26	27	Boston	24-55	6.434302	25-57
27	26	LA Lakers	25-54	7.642185	26-56
28	28	Utah	24-55	7.745239	25-57	-1
29	29	Milwaukee	15-64	8.373287	16-66
30	30	Philadelphia	17-62	12.30255	18-64

This week's hottest team was Chicago, which won three times to extend their win streak to 7 games, allowing them to pass Toronto for the 3rd seed in the East. They won 2 road games this week that were likely losses, in Washington and Minnesota, but won both by over 15 points, and they could repeat the feat this week in New York and Charlotte.

Atlanta was also hot this week, right when they had to be, because they are still fighting to hold on to the last playoff spot in the East, with New York surging as well. Atlanta won big in Indiana to open the week, and closed it out with another big win in Brooklyn, which kept them 2 games ahead of the Knicks with 3 games left. It's not a must-win against Miami tonight, but it sure would be nice to lock up that spot tonight.

A 2-1 week doesn't usually qualify as cold, but Toronto's two wins this week came against the two worst teams in the league, by an average of only 7.5 points, and they followed those up with a home loss to New York, which is fighting for its playoff life. That loss may have cost the Raptors the 3-seed, meaning they'll have to face Brooklyn in the first round rather than the Wizards or Bobcats.

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

Sacramento at LA Clippers - Clippers by 13
Philadelphia at Charlotte - Bobcats by 16
Milwaukee at Washington - Wizards by 12
Miami at Atlanta - Heat by 1
Boston at Cleveland - Cavaliers by 7
New Orleans at Houston - Rockets by 10
Phoenix at Dallas - Mavericks by 6
Utah at Denver - Nuggets by 10

Prediction Results

NBA: 9-4 (.692) 793-395 overall (.668)
Upsets: 2-0 (1.000) 116-112 overall (.509)