NBA Rankings - 6 Apr

We're down to the final week and a half of the regular season, and there are only 7 teams still alive for the final 4 playoff spots, since Portland was eliminated this week. The race for #8 in the West is very intriguing, with Utah and LA switching spots every few days, and Dallas still hanging in and hoping for a miracle. The Clippers will clinch the Pacific Division with their next win or Golden State's next loss, and with it a guaranteed #4 spot (or higher) in the playoffs. Here are my current rankings, with teams grouped by similar level of performance and projected record, seed, and change since last week included after current record.

TW. (LW) Team (Week) Overall (Projected) Seed (Change)
1. (1) Oklahoma City (3-0) 56-20 (61-21) 1W (+1)

2. (2) Miami (2-1) 59-16 (65-17) 1E
3. (3) San Antonio (1-3) 56-20 (60-22) 2W (-2)
4. (4) LA Clippers (1-2) 50-26 (54-28) 4W (-1)
5. (5) Denver (2-0) 52-24 (56-26) 3W

6. (7) Memphis (3-1) 51-25 (55-27) 5W (+1)
7. (6) Indiana (2-1) 48-28 (52-30) 3E
8. (8) Houston (4-0) 43-33 (47-35) 6W (+2)
9. (9) New York (4-0) 49-26 (53-29) 2E (+2)

10. (10) Brooklyn (1-2) 43-32 (48-34) 4E
11. (11) LA Lakers (3-0) 40-36 (43-39) 8W (+1)
12. (12) Golden State (3-0) 44-32 (47-35) 7W (+1)

13. (16) Utah (3-1) 40-37 (42-40) 9W (+1)
14. (17) Dallas (2-2) 37-39 (40-42) 10W
15. (15) Chicago (3-2) 42-33 (46-36) 5E
16. (14) Atlanta (2-2) 42-35 (44-38) 6E (-1)
17. (13) Boston (1-3) 39-37 (42-40) 7E (-1)
18. (19) Minnesota (2-2) 28-47 (31-51) 12W
19. (18) Portland (0-4) 33-43 (35-47) 11W (-2)
20. (20) Milwaukee (1-3) 36-39 (39-43) 8E (-1)
21. (21) Washington (2-1) 28-47 (31-51) 11E (+1)

22. (22) Sacramento (0-3) 27-49 (29-53) 13W (-1)
23. (24) Philadelphia (2-1) 31-44 (34-48) 9E (+1)
24. (25) New Orleans (1-2) 26-50 (28-54) 14W
25. (23) Toronto (2-2) 29-47 (31-51) 10E

26. (26) Cleveland (1-3) 23-52 (26-56) 13E

27. (28) Detroit (1-2) 25-51 (27-55) 12E

28. (27) Phoenix (0-3) 23-53 (24-58) 15W (-1)
29. (29) Orlando (0-4) 19-58 (21-61) 14E

30. (30) Charlotte (1-3) 18-58 (19-63) 15E

The hottest team in the league for the second straight week is New York, which has extended its winning streak to 11 with 4 of those coming this week. Last week it was JR Smith leading the way, and this week it's been Carmelo Anthony, who has reached 40 points or more in 3 straight games, including 50 points in a road win over the mighty Miami Heat, giving them the season series win 3-1, and setting up an interesting potential Eastern Conference Finals showdown.

Detroit has been playing better as of late, even though it is meaningless at this point. They played their last 3 games on the road, winning at Toronto and nearly beating both Chicago and Boston, who will be participating in this year's playoffs. Greg Monroe has been a bright spot all season, and has been especially good lately, scoring 24 in each of the last 2 games and grabbing at least 10 rebounds in 5 of the last 7 games.

Orlando may not have won this week, but they played 4 road games against playoff teams, and kept 3 of those games to single-digit losses, including a 1-point loss at Chicago last night. No matter how they finish the season, the Magic have a pretty good shot at the top pick in the draft, since they are almost guaranteed to finish with the second-worst record in the league.

Golden State had a perfect week, winning all three of its games, and it came at a good time for the Warriors, because the Rockets, with whom they are jockeying for the #6 seed, were equally hot this week. Although I had Golden State ahead of Houston a week ago, I now project both teams to finish at 47-35, and since Houston has won the season series, that would leave the Warriors to face San Antonio in the first round, instead of the much more desirable Denver Nuggets.