NBA Rankings - 22 Mar

The Clippers' winning streak ended on Monday at Denver, leaving them vulnerable at the top spot, and San Antonio took advantage last night, taking their 12th game in a row to take over at #1 for the first time in nearly two months. The Spurs face a real challenge to the streak today when they visit Golden State, but even a close loss could keep them at the top. Here are my full current rankings:

Rank	LW	Team	Record	Rating	Predic	Ch	Seed
1	2	San Antonio	52-16	-7.56625	62-20	+1	1W
2	1	LA Clippers	48-21	-7.42658	57-25	-1	3W
3	5	Houston	46-22	-5.27002	55-27		4W
4	3	Oklahoma City	51-18	-4.92003	59-23		2W
5	4	Golden State	44-26	-4.58265	52-30	+1	6W
6	7	Portland	45-24	-3.37474	53-29	-1	5W
7	8	Miami	47-20	-3.35979	56-26	+1	2E
8	6	Toronto	38-30	-2.94614	48-34	-2	3E
9	12	Dallas	42-28	-2.73934	49-33	+1	7W
10	9	Indiana	51-18	-2.7038	58-24		1E
11	11	Memphis	40-28	-2.69407	48-34		8W
12	10	Minnesota	34-33	-1.75288	42-40
13	14	Phoenix	40-29	-0.95296	46-36	+1
14	13	Chicago	38-31	-0.83396	46-36	-1	4E
15	15	Washington	36-33	-0.42341	44-38		5E
16	16	Brooklyn	36-31	-0.21192	44-38		6E
17	18	New York	29-40	1.180186	35-47	+2
18	17	Charlotte	33-36	1.598027	40-42	-1	7E
19	20	Atlanta	31-36	2.066247	38-44	+1	8E
20	19	Sacramento	24-45	2.408074	29-53	-1
21	21	New Orleans	28-40	3.316638	33-49	+1
22	22	Denver	31-38	3.506324	35-47	+1
23	23	Cleveland	26-43	4.719874	31-51	-1
24	24	Detroit	25-43	4.925662	30-52	-1
25	26	Boston	23-47	5.591462	28-54	-1
26	25	Utah	22-47	6.166205	27-55
27	27	Orlando	19-50	6.571033	23-59
28	28	LA Lakers	22-46	7.680468	26-56
29	29	Milwaukee	13-56	8.43413	16-66	-1
30	30	Philadelphia	15-54	14.02831	17-65

New York was the hottest team this week, even if they didn't look like it last night in a nailbiter against the horrible 76ers, but it came two nights after the Knicks knocked off the Indiana Pacers, which gave them 7 straight wins, and beating Philly gave them 8. This week they play 4 teams that are all currently out of the playoffs, so it is possible that they could have 12 straight wins by next week. Not likely, but they've been surprising lately.

Dallas has also been hot lately, winning by 23 in Oklahoma City on Sunday and going 3-1 on the week, with the lone blemish coming against Minnesota in overtime. In that game, Ricky Rubio had his 3rd career triple-double and Kevin Love scored 35 and hit the game winner, but Dallas came back with a win over Denver last night. This week they host both Oklahoma City and the Clippers, so they'll need to be playing their best.

Toronto was the coldest team this week, giving up the title of best team in the East after just one week. They lost to Phoenix at home to open the week, then lost twice more, both in overtime, to finish the week 1-3, the first time they've lost more than once in a week since the beginning of February. They've got another week full of easy games, but they'll need to play like they're the better team this week.

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Portland at Charlotte - Trail Blazers by 2
Houston at Cleveland - Rockets by 7
Philadelphia at Chicago - Bulls by 18
Indiana at Memphis - Grizzlies by 3
Miami at New Orleans - Heat by 1
Orlando at Utah - Jazz by 4
San Antonio at Golden State - Warriors by 2
Detroit at LA Clippers - Clippers by 18

NCAA

(9) Pittsburgh vs. (1) Florida - Gators by 3
(5) Saint Louis vs. (4) Louisville - Cardinals by 12
(7) Texas vs. (2) Michigan - Wolverines by 7
(12) North Dakota State vs. (4) San Diego State - Aztecs by 5
(11) Dayton vs. (3) Syracuse - Orange by 5
(7) Oregon vs. (2) Wisconsin - Badgers by 4
(12) Harvard vs. (4) Michigan State - Spartans by 5
(7) Connecticut vs. (2) Villanova - Wildcats by 4

NIT

(3) Louisiana Tech at (2) Georgia - LT Bulldogs by 1

CIT

IPFW at VMI - Keydets by 2
Wright State at Ohio - Bobcats by 6
Yale at Holy Cross - Crusaders by 7
Eastern Michigan at Columbia - Lions by 6
San Diego at Sam Houston - Bearkats by 4
Texas A&M-CC at Pacific - Tigers by 10

Prediction Results

NBA: 8-2 (.800) 683-346 overall (.664)
Upsets: 0-1 (.000) 97-97 overall (.500)
NCAA: 12-4 (.750) 26-10 overall (.722)
Upsets: 1-1 (.500) 3-3 overall (.500)
NIT: 1-0 (1.000) 13-4 overall (.765)
CIT: 1-0 (1.000) 9-8 overall (.529)