NBA Rankings - 21 Mar

The hottest team in the NBA over the past month has been the LA Lakers, who have won 8 in a row and 11 of their past 12, and have gone from a projected spot in the play-in to a #3 finish in the West. Charlotte also continues to rise, moving into my top 10 for the first time ever, while the Golden State Warriors are headed in the opposite direction, losing 9 of 11 since my last update, and 18 of their past 26 overall, though their play-in spot is safe, since no other team below them in the West is trying to win. Here are my full current rankings and playoff picks:

				Record		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Seed
1	1	Oklahoma City	-9.475	55	15	64	18	W1
2	3	San Antonio	-6.751	52	18	61	21	W2
3	2	Detroit	-6.023	51	19	59	23	E1
4	4	Boston	-5.963	47	23	55	27	E2
5	6	New York	-4.973	46	25	53	29	E3
6	5	Houston	-3.719	42	27	51	31	W4
7	7	Cleveland	-3.702	43	27	51	31	E4
8	8	Denver	-3.617	43	28	50	32	W5
9	9	Minnesota	-2.741	43	28	49	33	W6
10	13	Charlotte	-2.552	36	34	43	39	E10
11	10	Miami	-2.373	38	32	45	37	E7
12	12	Toronto	-1.725	39	30	46	36	E5
13	14	Phoenix	-1.555	39	31	46	36	W7
14	17	LA Lakers	-1.548	45	25	52	30	W3
15	19	Atlanta	-0.836	38	32	44	38	E9
16	16	Orlando	-0.716	38	31	45	37	E6
17	11	Golden State	-0.706	33	37	40	42	W10
18	18	LA Clippers	-0.457	34	36	41	41	W9
19	15	Philadelphia	-0.052	38	32	44	38	E8
20	20	Portland	0.7428	35	36	41	41	W8
21	21	Memphis	3.0687	24	45	28	54
22	25	New Orleans	3.4013	25	46	29	53
23	24	Chicago	3.7197	28	42	33	49
24	22	Milwaukee	4.4309	28	41	32	50
25	23	Dallas	4.7682	23	47	27	55
26	26	Utah	6.2764	21	49	24	58
27	27	Brooklyn	7.0977	17	53	21	61
28	29	Sacramento	8.2465	18	53	21	61
29	28	Indiana	8.2896	15	55	17	65
30	30	Washington	9.7521	16	53	18	64

Playoff Picks

Play-In

(7) Heat over (8) 76ers

(10) Hornets over (9) Hawks

(10) Hornets over (8) 76ers

(7) Suns over (8) Trail Blazers

(9) Clippers over (10) Warriors

(8) Trail Blazers over (9) Clippers

First Round

(1) Pistons over (10) Hornets in 6

(2) Celtics over (7) Heat in 6

(3) Knicks over (6) Magic in 6

(4) Cavaliers over (5) Raptors in 6

(1) Thunder over (8) Trail Blazers in 4

(2) Spurs over (7) Suns in 6

(3) Lakers over (6) Timberwolves in 7

(4) Rockets over (5) Nuggets in 7

Second Round

(1) Pistons over (4) Cavaliers in 6

(2) Celtics over (3) Knicks in 6

(1) Thunder over (4) Rockets in 5

(2) Spurs over (3) Lakers in 6

Conference Finals

(1) Pistons over (2) Celtics in 7

(1) Thunder over (2) Spurs in 6

NBA Finals

(1) Thunder over (1) Pistons in 6

NBA Rankings - 10 Jan

Oklahoma City has been one of the coldest teams over the past few weeks, barely above .500 during that period, but most of the teams that were close to them have also been cold, and the Thunder's lead was big enough that they are still by far the top team in the league in my current rankings. The hottest team as of late has been the Clippers, who have won 8 of their last 10, and are now projected to reach the final play-in spot. Here are my full current rankings and playoff picks:

				Record		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Seed
1	1	Oklahoma City	-10.01	32	7	66	16	W1
2	2	Houston	-6.793	22	13	56	26	W2
3	6	Detroit	-5.579	28	9	59	23	E1
4	7	Boston	-5.371	24	13	55	27	E2
5	5	San Antonio	-4.696	26	11	55	27	W3
6	3	Denver	-4.384	25	13	53	29	W4
7	4	New York	-3.947	24	14	52	30	E3
8	9	Minnesota	-3.644	25	13	51	31	W5
9	13	Phoenix	-2.912	23	15	49	33	W6
10	10	Miami	-2.53	20	17	47	34	E4
11	11	Golden State	-1.986	21	18	45	37	W8
12	16	Cleveland	-1.676	21	18	46	36	E5
13	15	Philadelphia	-1.535	21	15	46	36	E6
14	14	Toronto	-1.347	23	16	46	36	E7
15	8	Orlando	-0.867	21	18	44	38	E8
16	18	Atlanta	-0.02	19	21	41	41	E9
17	12	LA Lakers	0.215	23	13	45	37	W7
18	19	Portland	0.816	19	20	40	42	W9
19	24	LA Clippers	0.983	14	23	36	46	W10
20	17	Memphis	1.253	16	22	36	46	OUT
21	21	Charlotte	2.237	13	25	31	51
22	22	Milwaukee	2.404	17	21	35	47	E10
23	20	Dallas	3.633	14	24	30	52
24	23	Chicago	3.94	17	20	33	48	OUT
25	27	Brooklyn	4.717	11	24	27	55
26	25	Utah	4.941	13	24	28	54
27	26	New Orleans	6.423	9	31	21	61
28	29	Indiana	7.953	7	31	18	64
29	28	Sacramento	8.717	8	30	19	63
30	30	Washington	9.141	10	27	19	63

Playoff Picks

Play In

(7) Raptors over (8) Magic

(9) Hawks over (10) Bucks

(8) Magic over (9) Hawks

(8) Warriors over (7) Lakers

(9) Trail Blazers over (10) Clippers

(7) Lakers over (9) Trail Blazers

First Round

(1) Pistons over (8) Magic in 6

(2) Celtics over (7) Raptors in 6

(3) Knicks over (6) 76ers in 6

(4) Heat over (5) Cavaliers in 7

(1) Thunder over (7) Lakers in 4

(2) Rockets over (8) Warriors in 6

(3) Spurs over (6) Suns in 7

(4) Nuggets over (5) Timberwolves in 7

Second Round

(1) Pistons over (4) Heat in 6

(2) Celtics over (3) Knicks in 7

(1) Thunder over (4) Nuggets in 5

(2) Rockets over (3) Spurs in 6

Conference Finals

(1) Pistons over (2) Celtics in 7

(1) Thunder over (2) Rockets in 6

NBA Finals

(1) Thunder over (1) Pistons in 6