NBA Rankings - 25 Dec

The Golden State Warriors continue to cruise at a higher altitude than any other team in the league, while the other 5 contenders are all lurking a little further behind and waiting for them to slip up so that they can take over their spot at the top. At this point, the Warriors are projected to finish 6 games ahead of any other team, but still short of the standard they set last season. To determine projected point spread, take the difference between the two teams and adjust by 2.27 for home court advantage:

				Rec		Proj
TW	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	PO Seed
1	1	Golden State	-10.79	27	4	69	13	W1
2	2	Toronto	-8.276	21	8	63	19	E1
3	5	Cleveland	-6.776	22	6	61	21	E2
4	6	San Antonio	-6.668	24	6	62	20	W2
5	4	Houston	-6.437	22	9	59	23	W3
6	3	LA Clippers	-6.422	22	9	58	24	W4
7	7	Utah	-3.744	18	13	50	32	W5
8	9	Boston	-2.02	17	13	48	34	E3
9	10	Charlotte	-1.49	17	13	46	36	E4
10	11	Milwaukee	-1.401	14	14	44	38	E5
11	12	Oklahoma City	-0.76	18	12	44	38	W6
12	8	Detroit	-0.468	14	18	40	42	E6
13	14	Memphis	-0.192	20	12	44	38	W7
14	13	Chicago	0.3604	14	15	40	42	E7
15	15	Sacramento	1.2411	13	17	36	45	W8
16	16	Atlanta	1.497	15	15	39	43
17	18	New York	1.6527	16	13	40	42	E8
18	20	Washington	1.8179	13	16	37	45
19	21	Denver	2.0384	12	18	34	48
20	22	Indiana	2.0597	15	16	37	45
21	23	Minnesota	2.2765	9	20	31	51
22	19	Miami	2.5692	10	21	31	51
23	17	Portland	2.7164	13	19	34	48
24	26	Dallas	3.2834	9	21	30	52
25	24	New Orleans	3.7946	11	21	29	53
26	25	Orlando	4.2181	14	18	32	50
27	27	LA Lakers	4.9017	11	22	28	54
28	28	Phoenix	6.0078	9	21	24	58
29	29	Brooklyn	7.2116	7	22	22	60
30	30	Philadelphia	8.0782	7	22	19	62

Playoff Picks

First Round

(1) Raptors over (8) Knicks
(2) Cavaliers over (7) Bulls
(6) Pistons over (3) Celtics
(5) Bucks over (4) Hornets
(1) Warriors over (8) Kings
(2) Spurs over (7) Grizzlies
(3) Rockets over (6) Thunder
(4) Clippers over (5) Jazz

Second Round

(1) Raptors over (5) Bucks
(2) Cavaliers over (6) Pistons
(1) Warriors over (4) Clippers
(3) Rockets over (2) Spurs

Conference Finals

(2) Cavaliers over (1) Raptors
(1) Warriors over (3) Rockets

NBA Finals

(1) Warriors over (2) Cavaliers