NBA Rankings - 18 Jan

The top 3 teams keep chugging along, winning over 70% of their games and separating themselves from the rest of the league, and the number of also-rans continues to rise. San Antonio held on to the top spot for the third straight week, but Oklahoma City has narrowed the gap as they have taken over the best record in the league. Here are my complete rankings, with teams grouped by similar level of performance.

TW. (LW) Team (Week) Overall
1. (1) San Antonio (2-1) 30-11

2. (2) Oklahoma City (4-0) 31-8
3. (3) LA Clippers (3-1) 31-9

4. (9) Miami (3-1) 26-12

5. (6) New York (2-1) 25-13
6. (4) Memphis (1-3) 24-13
7. (5) Denver (3-1) 24-17

8. (7) Houston (0-4) 21-19
9. (12) Brooklyn (3-1) 23-16
10. (10) LA Lakers (2-2) 17-22
11. (16) Chicago (3-1) 22-15
12. (13) Utah (2-1) 21-19
13. (8) Golden State (1-2) 23-14
14. (11) Indiana (2-2) 24-16

15. (19) Boston (2-1) 20-18

16. (18) Toronto (1-3) 14-25
17. (22) New Orleans (3-1) 13-26
18. (14) Atlanta (2-2) 22-16
19. (23) Dallas (3-0) 17-23
20. (15) Milwaukee (2-2) 20-18
21. (20) Detroit (1-2) 14-25
22. (21) Portland (0-4) 20-19
23. (17) Minnesota (0-4) 16-20

24. (25) Phoenix (1-3) 13-28
25. (27) Orlando (2-1) 14-24
26. (24) Philadelphia (1-1) 16-23
27. (28) Cleveland (1-3) 10-31
28. (30) Washington (2-1) 7-29

29. (26) Sacramento (2-1) 15-24

30. (29) Charlotte (0-4) 9-29

The hottest team in the league this week, despite losing to the Utah Jazz, was the Miami Heat. After that loss in Salt Lake City, Miami traveled to California, where they blew out the stumbling Warriors before beating the Lakers by 9, giving them 3 big road wins in 4 games over the course of the week. At this point, only New York looks like a real challenger to the Heat in the East, although Brooklyn is trying to join that club as well.

In their most recent homestand, Washington did more than just win consecutive games for the first time all season, they swept the three visitors, the first of which was the Oklahoma City Thunder, pulling off the rare feat of beating the team with the league's best record while sitting in last place. They followed that up with wins over Atlanta and Orlando, then they nearly made it four in a row in Sacramento, but a late Tyreke Evans free throw thwarted them.

Chicago, fresh off a surprising loss to the Phoenix Suns, pulled off a great defensive feat on Monday, holding the Atlanta Hawks to just 58 points, the second-lowest total for Atlanta since the shot clock was instituted and the lowest total they had scored since 1955. The Bulls have moved up to #4 in the East, which is pretty impressive considering the fact that their best player hasn't played a minute yet this season.

Dallas has now won four straight games and is playing itself back into playoff contention with Dirk back in the lineup, winning 4 in a row, three against potential playoff opponents. The wins over Memphis and Minnesota each came by at least 15 points, and tonight's game against Oklahoma City could be their 4th straight upset victory.

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

Chicago at Boston - Celtics by 1
Toronto at Philadelphia - Raptors by 1
Charlotte at Orlando - Magic by 7
Houston at Indiana - Pacers by 2
Atlanta at Brooklyn - Nets by 6
Sacramento at Memphis - Grizzlies by 13
Golden State at San Antonio - Spurs by 11
Washington at Denver - Nuggets by 12
Oklahoma City at Dallas - Thunder by 7

Prediction Results

NBA: 3-1 (.750) 393-189 overall (.675)
Upsets: 0-1 (.000) 74-48 overall (.607)
College Basketball: 7-2 (.778) 467-96 overall (.829)
Upsets: 1-1 (.500) 35-37 overall (.486)