NBA Rankings - 11 Apr

This week I've increased the strength of the momentum factor in my formula in hopes of being able to continue increasing the accuracy of my predictions, and as a result there is a bit more movement than usual in this week's rankings. Each team's name is followed by its weekly record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Chicago (4-0) (60-20) -8.12 (3)

2. Miami (2-1) (56-24) -7.64 (1)

3. LA Lakers (0-4) (55-25) -7.11 (2)

4. Denver (2-2) (49-31) -6.99 (6)

5. San Antonio (3-0) (61-19) -6.91 (4)

6. Oklahoma City (4-0) (54-26) -5.80 (9)

7. Orlando (2-1) (50-30) -5.53 (7)

8. Boston (2-2) (55-25) -5.46 (5)

9. Dallas (2-1) (55-25) -5.18 (8)

10. Memphis (2-1) (46-34) -4.47 (10)

11. Houston (1-2) (42-38) -4.19 (11)

12. Portland (2-1) (47-33) -4.14 (12)

13. New Orleans (2-1) (46-34) -2.69 (13)

14. Philadelphia (1-2) (41-39) -2.34 (14)

15. New York (4-0) (42-38) -1.79 (15)

16. Phoenix (1-3) (38-42) -0.38 (17)

17. Milwaukee (2-2) (33-47) -0.10 (18)

18. Indiana (2-1) (37-44) 0.45 (19)

19. Atlanta (0-3) (44-36) 0.48 (16)

20. Golden State (2-1) (35-45) 0.51 (21)

21. Utah (1-2) (37-43) 1.12 (20)

22. LA Clippers (1-3) (31-50) 1.34 (22)

23. Detroit (3-1) (29-51) 2.48 (23)

24. Sacramento (2-2) (24-56) 3.13 (25)

25. Charlotte (0-4) (32-48) 3.73 (24)

26. Minnesota (0-3) (17-63) 4.76 (26)

27. Toronto (1-3) (22-58) 5.17 (27)

28. New Jersey (1-3) (24-56) 5.46 (28)

29. Washington (2-2) (22-58) 6.64 (29)

30. Cleveland (2-2) (17-63) 7.80 (30)

Feeling Hoppy

Last week there was talk that Oklahoma City could fall behind Denver into the 5th spot in the West, but they made sure to end that talk this week with four straight wins, including 2 over those Denver Nuggets. They capped off a perfect week with a huge road upset of the Lakers last night, which put them only one game behind the Lakers and Mavericks for the 2nd seed in the West. What a difference a week makes.

The Dallas Mavericks rebounded from a loss to Denver early in the week by beating down the Clippers and Suns over the weekend, which was enough to pull them into a tie with Los Angeles for the #2 spot in the West. They still have two tough games left, but even their recent 4-game losing streak didn't knock them out of contention.

The New York Knicks won four straight this week, including two close wins over the teams closest to them in the Eastern Conference standings and two blowouts of teams that have known they will miss the playoffs for months. Their seven straight wins negated the damage caused by the preceding 6-game losing streak, and they are now sitting in 6th place in the East.

Laying Eggs

If you were paying close attention to my rankings above, you may have noticed that the worst team in the playoffs is not the Indiana Pacers, but the Atlanta Hawks, who may still end up with the East's 5th seed. They got consistently worse this week, losing by 7 to San Antonio, then 12 to the Pacers, and finally 32 to the Wizards.

10 days ago, the Lakers were looking unstoppable, having won 17 of 18 games since the All-Star Break, but this week they failed to win a single game, and two of those games were against non-playoff competition. Just when it looked like the had the second seed all sewn up, now they're in a 3-way dogfight with just two games to go.

Boston didn't play a close game all week, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. They did win two of those games, but both were against teams much lower in the rankings than the Celtics. The bad part was the two road losses to the other top Eastern teams, Chicago and Miami, who both beat Boston by at least 16 points, showing that there may be a new team representing the East in this year's Finals.

NBA Player of the Day

Derrick Rose - CHI - 39 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast, 13-17 FG, 3-5 3P, 10-10 FT

Even though they Bulls have already clinched the best record in the East, Rose has not let up, beating yet another of the top contenders in the East yesterday in Orlando by scoring 39 points and hitting four important free throw down the stretch in a probably second round playoff preview.

Predictions - 11 Apr

Upset picks are in italics.

Possible upsets are underlined.

NBA

Heat at Hawks - Heat by 5

Bobcats at Nets - Nets by 1

Magic at 76ers - Magic by 1

Celtics at Wizards - Celtics by 9

Cavaliers at Pistons - Pistons by 8

Jazz at Hornets - Hornets by 7

Raptors at Bucks - Bucks by 8

Mavericks at Rockets - Rockets by 2

Warriors at Nuggets - Nuggets by 10

Thunder at Kings - Thunder by 6

Timberwolves at Suns - Suns by 8

Prediction Results - 10 Apr

NBA: 4-5 (.444) 716-303 overall (.703)

Upsets: 2-2 (.500) 173-118 overall (.595)