We're a month into the regular season, and the Washington Wizards have already won a game. The San Antonio Spurs used a strategy they've been using for years to rest their aging stars and were find $250,000 for it, and kept themselves from taking over the top spot in the process. 40% of the teams in the league are within 2 games of .500, which leaves a lot of room for teams to shuffle around. Here are my current rankings for each team, with teams grouped by similar level of performance.
TW. (LW) Team (Week) (Overall)
1. (7) Oklahoma City (3-0) (12-4)
2. (5) New York (2-1) (10-4)
3. (1) Memphis (2-0) (11-2)
4. (4) San Antonio (3-1) (13-4)
5. (2) Miami (2-0) (11-3)
6. (9) Brooklyn (3-0) (10-4)
7. (3) LA Clippers (1-2) (9-6)
8. (12) LA Lakers (1-1) (7-8)
9. (6) Denver (1-2) (8-8)
10. (8) Houston (1-1) (7-8)
11. (10) Atlanta (2-0) (9-4)
12. (16) Chicago (2-1) (7-7)
13. (13) Golden State (2-0) (9-6)
14. (11) Utah (2-1) (9-7)
15. (24) Detroit (2-1) (5-11)
16. (17) Indiana (1-0) (7-8)
17. (20) Boston (1-1) (8-7)
18. (14) Milwaukee (1-2) (7-6)
19. (21) Minnesota (1-2) (6-8)
20. (19) Philadelphia (2-1) (9-6)
21. (22) Portland (0-3) (6-9)
22. (27) Sacramento (1-1) (4-10)
23. (28) New Orleans (1-2) (4-10)
24. (15) Dallas (0-3) (7-9)
25. (26) Toronto (0-3) (3-13)
26. (25) Cleveland (0-3) (3-12)
27. (23) Orlando (0-2) (5-9)
28. (18) Phoenix (1-2) (7-9)
29. (29) Charlotte (1-2) (7-7)
30. (30) Washington (1-2) (1-12)
Oklahoma City has started out their latest homestand in impressive style, blasting Charlotte 114-69 on Monday, then outplaying Houston by 22 points on Wednesday. They close out their homestand tonight against Utah, which should be another double-digit victory for a team that seems to be coming together after struggling a little early on after the last-second trade of James Harden right before the season started.
After an 0-8 start, the Detroit Pistons have started to turn things around, going 5-3 since that point and blowing out the Phoenix Suns by 40 points a couple nights ago. They are still struggling on the road, winning just one game away from Detroit, and they probably won't get #2 tonight, as they are in Memphis facing the team with the league's best record. Maybe tomorrow in Dallas will be a little more favorable.
Since upsetting the Knicks a week ago, the Dallas Mavericks have struggled, losing 3 in a row, two of them by very large margins. Rumor has it that Derek Fisher will be joining the team this week, but he's not going to be the answer they need. What they really need is for Dirk Nowitzki to come back healthy, but the shortest timetable for his return is still 3 weeks, and with the way they're playing without him, they had better hope it doesn't take much longer than that to get their star back on the court.
Memphis didn't lose a game this week, but their poor showing against Cleveland coupled with Oklahoma City's dominance in their wins worked together to knock the Grizzlies from the top of the rankings. The Grizz are still one of the best teams in the league, and they will get the chance to prove it tomorrow in San Antonio, where the Spurs' star players will be well rested after last night's controversial decision by Gregg Popovich to send his 4 best players home to rest before Memphis arrived.
Predictions
Upset picks are in italics.
Phoenix at Toronto - Raptors by 4
Philadelphia at Charlotte - 76ers by 3
Brooklyn at Orlando - Nets by 8
Portland at Boston - Celtics by 5
Washington at New York - Knicks by 22
Cleveland at Atlanta - Hawks by 10
Detroit at Memphis - Grizzlies by 13
Utah at Oklahoma City - Thunder by 12
Milwaukee at Minnesota - Timberwolves by 3
Indiana at Sacramento - Pacers by 1
Denver at LA Lakers - Lakers by 3
College Basketball
Oregon State at (10) Kansas - Jayhawks by 13
(6) Syracuse at Arkansas - Orange by 21
Tennessee at (20) Georgetown - Hoyas by 4
Prediction Results
NBA: 1-1 (.500) 145-76 overall (.656)
College Basketball: 3-1 (.750) 176-43 overall (.804)
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