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

NBA Rankings - 13 Jan

The hottest team in the NBA over the last 3 weeks has been the Utah Jazz, who have gone 9-2 over that time to pull their record up to .500 and put themselves in the playoff race, where they are currently projected to finish tied with the Lakers just a single game behind the Suns for the final play-in spot. Brooklyn has been the coldest team, losing 7 of their last 8 to fall out of the playoffs, even though 36 wins looks like enough to make the play-in in the East. Here are my full current rankings:

				Record		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Seed
1	1	Boston	-8.743	29	9	64	18	E1
2	3	Oklahoma City	-7.369	26	11	59	23	W2
3	4	Minnesota	-6.677	27	11	60	22	W1
4	2	Philadelphia	-5.565	24	13	55	27	E2
5	6	LA Clippers	-4.997	25	13	54	28	W3
6	5	Denver	-4.578	27	13	54	28	W4
7	10	New Orleans	-4.18	23	16	50	32	W5
8	8	New York	-3.925	22	16	50	32	E4
9	9	Milwaukee	-3.393	26	12	52	30	E3
10	19	Indiana	-2.398	23	15	48	34	E5
11	7	Houston	-1.632	19	18	44	38	W8
12	12	Orlando	-1.265	21	17	46	36	E6
13	14	Cleveland	-1.251	22	15	46	36	E7
14	13	Sacramento	-0.814	23	15	45	37	W6
15	20	Dallas	-0.719	23	16	45	37	W7
16	17	Miami	-0.221	22	16	45	37	E8
17	11	Golden State	-0.103	18	20	40	42	W9
18	21	Phoenix	0.289	20	18	39	43	W10
19	18	LA Lakers	1.165	19	20	38	44	OUT
20	15	Atlanta	1.193	15	22	37	45	E9
21	25	Utah	1.503	20	20	38	44
22	23	Toronto	1.716	15	24	34	48
23	16	Brooklyn	2.184	16	22	35	47	OUT
24	22	Chicago	2.326	18	22	36	46	E10
25	24	Memphis	3.777	14	24	31	51
26	28	San Antonio	7.232	7	30	18	64
27	26	Portland	7.481	10	28	20	62
28	27	Washington	9.17	6	31	16	66
29	29	Charlotte	9.982	8	28	17	65
30	30	Detroit	10.21	3	36	11	71

Playoff Picks

Play In

(7) Cavaliers over (8) Heat

(9) Hawks over (10) Bulls

(8) Heat over (9) Hawks

(7) Mavericks over (8) Rockets

(9) Warriors over (10) Suns

(8) Rockets over (9) Warriors

First Round

(1) Celtics over (8) Heat in 4

(2) 76ers over (7) Cavaliers in 5

(3) Bucks over (6) Magic in 6

(4) Knicks over (5) Pacers in 6

(1) Timberwolves over (8) Rockets in 5

(2) Thunder over (7) Mavericks in 5

(3) Clippers over (6) Kings in 6

(4) Nuggets over (5) Pelicans in 7

Second Round

(1) Celtics over (4) Knicks in 5

(2) 76ers over (3) Bucks in 6

(1) Timberwolves over (4) Nuggets in 6

(2) Thunder over (3) Clippers in 6

Conference Finals

(1) Celtics over (2) 76ers in 6

(1) Timberwolves over (2) Thunder in 7

NBA Finals

(1) Celtics over (1) Timberwolves in 6