NBA Rankings - 23 Mar

The Houston Rockets have been the hottest team in the league this month, winning 7 in a row and 9 of their last 10 to move into position to threaten for the final play-in spot, currently held by Golden State. Toronto seems to have given up, losing 9 in a row, while the 76ers have fallen all the way to #8 in the East with Joel Embiid out with an injury. Here are my full current rankings and playoff picks:

				Record		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Seed
1	1	Boston	-9.546	56	14	66	16	E1
2	2	Oklahoma City	-6.523	49	20	58	24	W1
3	3	Minnesota	-6.346	48	22	57	25	W3
4	5	Denver	-4.719	49	21	57	25	W2
5	6	New Orleans	-4.502	43	27	51	31	W5
6	4	LA Clippers	-4.015	44	25	52	30	W4
7	9	New York	-3.313	41	28	49	33	E5
8	7	Cleveland	-3	43	27	51	31	E3
9	8	Milwaukee	-2.834	45	25	52	30	E2
10	11	Phoenix	-2.092	41	29	46	36	W8
11	10	Golden State	-2.042	36	33	43	39	W10
12	15	Indiana	-1.969	40	31	46	36	E6
13	14	Sacramento	-1.665	40	29	47	35	W7
14	13	Orlando	-1.614	42	28	49	33	E4
15	16	Dallas	-1.397	41	29	48	34	W6
16	18	Houston	-1.133	34	35	41	41
17	12	Philadelphia	-0.954	38	32	44	38	E8
18	19	LA Lakers	-0.3	38	32	44	38	W9
19	17	Miami	0.2079	38	32	45	37	E7
20	20	Chicago	1.9019	34	36	39	43	E9
21	22	Atlanta	2.1083	30	39	36	46	E10
22	21	Brooklyn	2.371	26	44	32	50
23	23	Utah	2.8678	29	41	33	49
24	24	Toronto	4.494	23	47	27	55
25	25	Memphis	5.331	24	47	28	54
26	27	San Antonio	5.9415	15	55	18	64
27	26	Portland	6.4577	19	51	22	60
28	28	Detroit	8.0822	12	58	15	67
29	29	Washington	8.8261	12	58	15	67
30	30	Charlotte	9.2199	17	52	19	63

Playoff Picks

Play In

(7) Heat over (8) 76ers

(9) Bulls over (10) Hawks

(9) Bulls over (8) 76ers

(7) Kings over (8) Suns

(10) Warriors over (9) Lakers

(8) Suns over (10) Warriors

First Round

(1) Celtics over (9) Bulls in 4

(2) Bucks over (7) Heat in 6

(6) Pacers over (3) Cavaliers in 7

(4) Magic over (5) Knicks in 6

(1) Thunder over (8) Suns in 5

(7) Kings over (2) Nuggets in 7

(3) Timberwolves over (6) Mavericks in 5

(5) Pelicans over (4) Clippers in 6

Second Round

(1) Celtics over (4) Magic in 5

(6) Pacers over (2) Bucks in 7

(1) Thunder over (5) Pelicans in 7

(3) Timberwolves over (7) Kings in 7

Conference Finals

(1) Celtics over (6) Pacers in 5

(3) Timberwolves over (1) Thunder in 7

NBA Finals

(1) Celtics over (3) Timberwolves in 7