NBA Rankings - 23 Dec

The Houston Rockets lost consecutive home games to the LA teams over the past few days, which ended both their winning streak but also their run as the top team in my rankings. The two hottest teams of the week are not in the playoff hunt at this point, but the Lakers and Bulls are headed in the right direction currently and could eventually see themselves fighting for a playoff berth. Here are my full current rankings and playoff picks:

				Rec		Proj
TW	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	MOV	SOS	PO Seed
1	2	Golden State	-10.63	26	6	66	16	1	21	W1
2	1	Houston	-9.815	25	6	65	17	2	29	W2
3	3	Toronto	-8.749	22	8	62	20	3	18	E1
4	4	Boston	-4.895	26	9	56	26	4	27	E2
5	5	Denver	-3.496	17	15	46	36	7	16	W4
6	9	Cleveland	-3.389	24	9	52	30	5	30	E3
7	8	San Antonio	-3.189	22	11	49	33	6	26	W3
8	11	Indiana	-2.943	18	14	47	35	11	12	E4
9	10	Oklahoma City	-2.654	17	15	44	38	8	23	W5
10	6	Washington	-2.25	17	15	44	38	9	24	E6
11	7	Utah	-2.187	15	18	41	41	12	7	W8
12	14	Minnesota	-1.789	19	13	44	38	10	28	W6
13	12	Detroit	-1.664	18	14	45	37	14	10	E5
14	16	New Orleans	-1.397	16	16	42	40	17	5	W7
15	13	Philadelphia	-1.311	14	17	41	41	18	4
16	15	Portland	-1.143	16	16	40	42	13	25
17	17	New York	-0.903	17	15	41	41	15	17
18	18	Milwaukee	-0.6	17	13	42	40	16	22	E7
19	19	Miami	-0.2	17	15	41	41	19	13	E8
20	23	LA Lakers	0.4991	11	19	35	47	22	3
21	20	Charlotte	0.5966	11	21	34	48	21	6
22	21	LA Clippers	0.9256	13	18	35	47	20	15
23	22	Dallas	1.4325	9	24	29	53	24	9
24	24	Brooklyn	1.7794	12	19	32	50	23	19
25	25	Memphis	2.435	9	23	29	53	26	1
26	28	Chicago	3.6329	10	21	27	55	27	8
27	26	Orlando	3.7768	11	22	28	54	25	11
28	27	Atlanta	4.1628	7	25	23	59	28	14
29	29	Phoenix	5.0752	12	22	25	57	29	20
30	30	Sacramento	5.2069	11	20	26	56	30	2

Playoff Picks

First Round

(1) Raptors over (8) Heat
(2) Celtics over (7) Bucks
(6) Wizards over (3) Cavaliers
(5) Pistons over (4) Pacers
(1) Warriors over (8) Jazz
(2) Rockets over (7) Pelicans
(6) Timberwolves over (3) Spurs
(5) Thunder over (4) Nuggets

Second Round

(1) Raptors over (5) Pistons
(2) Celtics over (6) Wizards
(1) Warriors over (5) Thunder
(2) Rockets over (6) Timberwolves

Conference Finals

(1) Raptors over (2) Celtics
(2) Rockets over (1) Warriors

NBA Finals

(1) Raptors over (2) Rockets