NBA Rankings - 21 Mar

We are now in the final month of the NBA season, and while Golden State has been #1 for a long time, there are still plenty of other good teams jockeying for position and looking to take down the favorites in the playoffs. Here are this week's full rankings:

				Rec		Proj
TW	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	PO Seed
1	1	Golden State	-8.26149	55	13	66	16	W1
2	2	Cleveland	-4.72292	45	26	53	29	E2
3	4	LA Clippers	-3.76179	45	25	54	28	W2
4	5	San Antonio	-3.23207	43	25	52	30	W6
5	3	Atlanta	-2.82207	53	16	62	20	E1
6	7	Oklahoma City	-2.33181	39	30	47	35	W8
7	6	Portland	-1.98568	44	23	53	29	W5
8	8	Utah	-1.73935	31	37	40	42
9	10	Houston	-1.28051	46	22	54	28	W3
10	11	Memphis	-0.17523	48	21	54	28	W4
11	12	Dallas	0.156589	44	26	50	32	W7
12	14	Chicago	0.23171	43	27	50	32	E3
13	9	Indiana	0.742624	29	39	37	45	E8
14	13	New Orleans	1.229026	37	32	43	39
15	17	Washington	1.231511	40	29	47	35	E5
16	15	Toronto	1.376127	41	28	49	33	E4
17	16	Milwaukee	2.01174	34	35	41	41	E6
18	22	Miami	2.469289	32	36	38	44	E7
19	20	Boston	2.532135	30	38	37	45
20	19	Phoenix	2.606123	36	33	41	41
21	21	Detroit	3.56561	24	44	30	52
22	18	Charlotte	3.981243	28	39	34	48
23	24	Brooklyn	5.343979	29	38	35	47
24	23	Denver	5.577068	26	44	30	52
25	25	LA Lakers	5.97749	18	49	24	58
26	26	Sacramento	6.549701	23	45	28	54
27	27	Orlando	7.139137	22	49	26	56
28	28	Minnesota	8.207667	14	54	18	64
29	29	Philadelphia	8.648997	17	52	21	61
30	30	New York	11.54736	14	55	17	65

The Atlanta Hawks were the runaway best team in the East for a long time this season, but they have hit a rough patch lately. They will win the top seed in the East easily, possibly as early as this weekend, but making the Finals may be another story, with the Cavaliers surging at the right time. They just finished a 6-game Western Conference road trip, on which they went 3-3, with only 2 of those games coming against playoff teams, meaning they lost to a team (Denver) with no shot of making the playoffs.

Last week I talked about how hot Indiana was, winning 10 out of 11, and I moved them into the top 10 despite their precarious playoff position, but the Pacers fell off a cliff this week, losing all 4 matchups, including a home loss to Boston, which is right in the race with them for the final playoff spot. They don't have a shot at winning a playoff series anyway, so maybe getting into the lottery is for the better anyway.

Playoff Picks

First Round

(1) Warriors over (8) Thunder
(2) Clippers over (7) Mavericks
(6) Spurs over (3) Rockets
(5) Trail Blazers over (4) Grizzlies
(1) Hawks over (8) Pacers
(2) Cavaliers over (7) Heat
(6) Bucks over (3) Bulls
(5) Wizards over (4) Raptors

Second Round

(1) Warriors over (5) Trail Blazers
(6) Spurs over (2) Clippers
(1) Hawks over (5) Wizards
(2) Cavaliers over (6) Bucks

Conference Finals

(1) Warriors over (6) Spurs
(2) Cavaliers over (1) Hawks

NBA Finals

(1) Warriors over (2) Cavaliers

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Brooklyn at Indiana - Pacers by 7
Chicago at Detroit - Bulls by 1
Phoenix at Houston - Rockets by 6
Portland at Memphis - Grizzlies by 1
Utah at Golden State - Warriors by 9

NCAA

(14) UAB vs. (11) UCLA - Bruins by 9
(8) Cincinnati vs. (1) Kentucky - Wildcats by 16
(10) Ohio State vs. (2) Arizona - Wildcats by 4
(14) Georgia State vs. (6) Xavier - Musketeers by 5
(8) NC State vs. (1) Villanova - Wildcats by 10
(5) Utah vs. (4) Georgetown - Utes by 5
(5) Arkansas vs. (4) North Carolina - Tar Heels by 7
(6) Butler vs. (3) Notre Dame - Fighting Irish by 2

NIT

(6) Alabama at (2) Miami (FL) - Hurricanes by 8

CIT

Canisius at Bowling Green - Falcons by 8
UL Lafayette at Sam Houston - Bearkats by 9
UT Martin at USC Upstate - Spartans by 5
Northern Arizona at Sacramento State - Hornets by 5

Prediction Results

NBA: 8-4 (.667) 695-325 overall (.681)
Upsets: 1-1 (.500) 66-83 overall (.443)
NCAA: 14-2 (.875) 27-9 overall (.750)
NIT: 1-0 (1.000) 14-5 overall (.737)
CIT: 1-0 (1.000) 10-7 overall (.588)
Upsets: 1-1 (.500) 5-3 overall (.625)