NBA Rankings - 9 Apr

There are only 4 days left in the regular season, and nearly every playoff spot is already locked up, with 13 already claimed and two that are nearly sure things, leaving the final spot in the West as the only one with any real drama. Utah holds a one-game lead over Houston with 3 games left for each team, but the Rockets hold the tiebreaker over the Jazz due to a better conference record. That means that Utah will have to match Houston's record over the final 3 games in order to make the playoffs, and both will be favored in all 3 remaining games. The most losable game for Houston will come at Minnesota on Monday, the only road game remaining on their schedule, and Utah needs to watch out at Denver tomorrow against a Nugget team that just knocked off the Spurs. Utah also must beat Dallas on Monday, but that game will be in Salt Lake City, and the Mavericks will most likely have clinched before then. The spot cannot be decided until Monday, and most likely will go clear until closing night, when Houston hosts Sacramento, then Utah plays the Lakers in a late game in Los Angeles. It will be weird to see the Kings and Lakers have a say in the playoff race, but it should be an exciting few days for two teams fighting to lose to Golden State in the first round. Here are my full current rankings:

				Rec		Proj
TW	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	PO Seed
1	1	San Antonio	-9.88	65	14	67	15	W2
2	2	Golden State	-9.718	70	9	72	10	W1
3	3	Oklahoma City	-6.69	54	25	56	26	W3
4	4	Cleveland	-5.271	56	23	58	24	E1
5	7	LA Clippers	-3.982	51	28	53	29	W4
6	6	Toronto	-3.85	53	26	55	27	E2
7	5	Atlanta	-3.736	47	32	49	33	E3
8	8	Boston	-2.531	47	32	49	33	E4
9	9	Charlotte	-2.015	46	33	48	34	E5
10	12	Utah	-1.866	39	40	41	41	W8
11	13	Portland	-1.015	43	37	44	38	W5
12	11	Miami	-0.909	46	33	47	35	E6
13	10	Indiana	-0.775	42	37	44	38	E7
14	14	Detroit	0.1246	43	37	44	38	E8
15	15	Houston	0.3537	38	41	40	42
16	16	Dallas	0.5035	41	38	42	40	W6
17	17	Washington	1.0114	38	41	40	42
18	24	Orlando	1.8964	34	45	35	47
19	18	Chicago	2.3175	39	40	41	41
20	19	Memphis	2.4234	42	37	42	40	W7
21	21	Sacramento	2.6545	31	48	32	50
22	20	Denver	2.8159	33	47	34	48
23	23	New Orleans	3.0462	30	49	32	50
24	22	New York	3.1501	32	48	33	49
25	26	Minnesota	3.922	27	52	28	54
26	25	Milwaukee	4.0903	32	47	33	49
27	27	Brooklyn	7.4853	21	58	22	60
28	28	Phoenix	7.6159	21	58	22	60
29	29	LA Lakers	9.0082	16	63	16	66
30	30	Philadelphia	10.102	10	69	11	71

Playoff Picks

First Round

(1) Cavaliers over (8) Pistons
(2) Raptors over (7) Pacers
(3) Hawks over (6) Heat
(5) Hornets over (4) Celtics
(1) Warriors over (8) Jazz
(2) Spurs over (7) Grizzlies
(3) Thunder over (6) Mavericks
(4) Clippers over (5) Trail Blazers

Second Round

(1) Cavaliers over (5) Hornets
(3) Hawks over (2) Raptors
(1) Warriors over (4) Clippers
(2) Spurs over (3) Thunder

Conference Finals

(3) Hawks over (1) Cavaliers
(2) Spurs over (1) Warriors

NBA Finals

(2) Spurs over (3) Hawks