NBA Rankings - 29 Feb

The Milwaukee Bucks are by far the best team in the league, just like they've been all year, and the Lakers have put quite a bit of distance between themselves and the rest of the West as well. There will be a lot of positioning for the middle seeds in both conferences, but the 8 teams in the East have pretty much been decided already, while there is still a wide-open race for the final spot in the West, with 6 teams fighting to lose to the Lakers in the first round. The Grizzlies are #8 right now, but New Orleans is projected to end up taking the final spot, with San Antonio, Portland, and Memphis just behind while Sacramento and Phoenix lurk a little further back. Here are my full current rankings and playoff picks:

				Record		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	MOV	SOS	Seed
1	1	Milwaukee	-10.23	51	8	69	13	1	30	E1
2	2	LA Lakers	-7.216	45	12	64	18	2	13	W1
3	5	Boston	-5.618	41	17	58	24	3	22	E2
4	4	LA Clippers	-5.165	40	19	56	26	5	12	W2
5	3	Toronto	-4.948	42	17	57	25	4	29	E3
6	6	Dallas	-4.829	36	24	51	31	6	20	W5
7	8	Houston	-4.168	38	20	54	28	7	15	W3
8	10	Denver	-2.751	40	19	53	29	9	17	W4
9	11	Oklahoma City	-2.542	37	23	50	32	11	10	W7
10	7	Utah	-2.371	37	22	50	32	10	14	W6
11	9	Miami	-2.153	37	22	51	31	8	23	E4
12	12	Philadelphia	-1.477	37	23	50	32	13	18	E5
13	13	Indiana	-1.094	35	24	47	35	12	25	E6
14	14	New Orleans	-0.519	26	33	39	43	14	1	W8
15	15	San Antonio	0.9332	24	33	37	45	17	4
16	21	Sacramento	1.3826	25	34	36	46	19	6
17	18	Orlando	1.4881	27	32	38	44	16	11	E7
18	17	Phoenix	1.5475	24	36	33	49	18	8
19	20	Brooklyn	1.6034	26	32	36	46	15	28	E8
20	16	Portland	1.6117	26	34	37	45	21	2
21	19	Memphis	2.0542	28	31	37	45	20	19
22	23	Minnesota	3.9681	17	41	26	56	25	7
23	22	Chicago	4.2839	20	39	27	55	22	27
24	25	Washington	4.7878	21	37	29	53	23	24
25	24	Detroit	4.8144	20	41	27	55	24	26
26	27	Atlanta	6.1662	18	43	26	56	27	5
27	26	New York	6.2816	17	42	25	57	26	9
28	29	Charlotte	7.0852	21	38	27	55	28	21
29	30	Cleveland	7.4454	17	42	23	59	29	16
30	28	Golden State	8.0757	12	47	17	65	30	3

Playoff Picks

First Round

(1) Bucks over (8) Nets in 4
(2) Celtics over (7) Magic in 4
(3) Raptors over (6) Pacers in 5
(5) 76ers over (4) Heat in 7
(1) Lakers over (8) Pelicans in 5
(2) Clippers over (7) Thunder in 6
(3) Rockets over (6) Jazz in 6
(5) Mavericks over (4) Nuggets in 6

Second Round

(1) Bucks over (5) 76ers in 4
(3) Raptors over (2) Celtics in 7
(1) Lakers over (5) Mavericks in 6
(3) Rockets over (2) Clippers in 7

Conference Finals

(1) Bucks over (3) Raptors in 5
(1) Lakers over (3) Rockets in 5

NBA Finals

(1) Bucks over (1) Lakers in 5