NBA Rankings - 22 Jan

Utah, who was at #1 in my last rankings 3 weeks ago, went 4-7 since that point, knocking them far from the #1 spot today. Golden State, who was at #2, went just 6-6 during the same span, and didn't do enough to take back the top rankings, which instead goes to Phoenix, who has gone 8-1 in recent games to give them a 3-game lead in the standings over the Warriors and the top spot in my rankings as well. Here are my full current rankings and playoff picks:

				Record		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Seed
1	3	Phoenix	-7.002	35	9	63	19	W1
2	2	Golden State	-6.737	33	13	59	22	W2
3	1	Utah	-5.848	30	16	54	28	W3
4	4	Cleveland	-4.714	27	19	51	30	E1
5	7	Miami	-3.867	29	17	51	30	E2
6	5	Milwaukee	-3.389	29	19	49	33	E5
7	10	Memphis	-2.887	32	16	53	29	W4
8	12	Dallas	-2.347	26	20	47	35	W5
9	6	Chicago	-2.108	28	16	48	32	E3
10	11	Philadelphia	-1.841	26	19	46	36	E6
11	8	Brooklyn	-1.84	29	16	48	32	E4
12	9	Boston	-1.784	23	24	43	39	E9
13	15	Toronto	-1.556	22	21	42	37	E8
14	18	Charlotte	-0.969	26	20	45	37	E7
15	14	Denver	-0.922	23	21	43	37	W6
16	20	Minnesota	-0.535	21	24	40	42	W7
17	16	Indiana	-0.02	17	29	36	46
18	17	Atlanta	0.664	20	25	37	44	OUT
19	13	San Antonio	1.01	17	29	33	48	OUT
20	21	New York	1.019	23	23	38	44
21	19	LA Clippers	1.196	23	24	38	44	W8
22	22	Washington	1.236	23	23	39	42	E10
23	23	LA Lakers	2.055	23	23	37	45	W9
24	24	Portland	2.448	19	26	35	47	W10
25	25	New Orleans	3.177	17	28	31	50
26	26	Sacramento	4.105	18	29	29	53
27	27	Oklahoma City	5.919	14	31	25	57
28	28	Houston	7.017	14	33	23	60
29	29	Orlando	7.66	8	39	17	64
30	30	Detroit	7.946	11	34	19	63

Playoff Picks

Play In

(7) Hornets over (8) Raptors in 3

(9) Celtics over (10) Wizards

(8) Raptors over (9) Celtics

(7) Timberwolves over (8) Clippers in 2

(9) Lakers over (10) Trail Blazers

(8) Clippers over (9) Lakers

First Round

(1) Cavaliers over (8) Raptors in 6

(2) Heat over (7) Hornets in 6

(3) Bulls over (6) 76ers in 7

(4) Nets over (5) Bucks in 7

(1) Suns over (8) Clippers in 5

(2) Warriors over (7) Timberwolves in 5

(3) Jazz over (6) Nuggets in 6

(4) Grizzlies over (5) Mavericks in 7

Second Round

(1) Cavaliers over (4) Nets in 6

(2) Heat over (3) Bulls in 6

(1) Suns over (4) Grizzlies in 6

(2) Warriors over (3) Jazz in 7

Conference Finals

(1) Cavaliers over (2) Heat in 7

(1) Suns over (2) Warriors in 7

NBA Finals

(1) Suns over (1) Cavaliers in 6