A-ha! Finally caught up. Once the photos and narrative of the India experience are culled, I am sure they will sneak onto these pages. In the meantime, what has happened in the NBA? The methodology, as always, is here:
| Rank | Team | W | L | Off | Def | Road | SOS | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat | 30 | 9 | 104.064 (2) | 94.12 (3) | 1.795 | 1.303 (25) | 13.042 |
| 2 | Spurs | 31 | 6 | 104.712 (1) | 96.709 (7) | 1.419 | 1.947 (13) | 11.368 |
| 3 | Celtics | 28 | 9 | 101.167 (11) | 93.903 (2) | 1.703 | 1.93 (15) | 10.897 |
| 4 | Magic | 25 | 12 | 101.171 (10) | 95.153 (5) | 1.608 | 1.599 (22) | 9.225 |
| 5 | Lakers | 27 | 11 | 103.284 (5) | 96.884 (9) | 1.75 | 0.638 (29) | 8.788 |
| 6 | Bulls | 25 | 12 | 98.64 (17) | 92.648 (1) | 1.608 | 1.168 (26) | 8.767 |
| 7 | Mavericks | 26 | 10 | 101.474 (9) | 96.962 (10) | 1.361 | 2.657 (2) | 8.53 |
| 8 | Hornets | 22 | 16 | 97.98 (19) | 95.679 (6) | 1.75 | 2.307 (5) | 6.357 |
| 9 | Hawks | 25 | 14 | 100.608 (13) | 96.982 (11) | 1.885 | 0.64 (28) | 6.151 |
| 10 | Thunder | 25 | 13 | 101.68 (8) | 99.538 (17) | 1.658 | 1.856 (16) | 5.657 |
| 11 | Knicks | 21 | 15 | 103.321 (3) | 101.22 (21) | 1.847 | 1.501 (24) | 5.449 |
| 12 | Jazz | 25 | 13 | 100.923 (12) | 99.149 (16) | 1.658 | 1.852 (17) | 5.285 |
| 13 | Blazers | 20 | 18 | 99.23 (15) | 98.477 (14) | 2.026 | 2.042 (10) | 4.821 |
| 14 | Nuggets | 20 | 16 | 102.639 (6) | 101.843 (24) | 1.653 | 1.957 (12) | 4.406 |
| 15 | Sixers | 15 | 22 | 98.104 (18) | 97.744 (12) | 1.986 | 1.6 (21) | 3.947 |
| 16 | Rockets | 17 | 21 | 101.814 (7) | 101.331 (23) | 1.934 | 1.514 (23) | 3.93 |
| 17 | Bucks | 14 | 21 | 93.192 (30) | 95.099 (4) | 1.9 | 3.434 (1) | 3.426 |
| 18 | Grizzlies | 17 | 21 | 97.302 (20) | 98.514 (15) | 1.934 | 1.776 (19) | 2.498 |
| 19 | Suns | 15 | 20 | 103.299 (4) | 105.268 (30) | 1.7 | 2.4 (3) | 2.131 |
| 20 | Pacers | 14 | 20 | 94.205 (27) | 96.711 (8) | 1.647 | 2.013 (11) | 1.154 |
| 21 | Warriors | 15 | 22 | 99.205 (16) | 102.923 (27) | 2.081 | 2.315 (4) | 0.678 |
| 22 | Clippers | 12 | 24 | 96.875 (23) | 100.696 (18) | 1.361 | 1.823 (18) | -0.637 |
| 23 | Bobcats | 14 | 21 | 95.035 (24) | 97.998 (13) | 1.6 | 0.717 (27) | -0.645 |
| 24 | Raptors | 13 | 24 | 99.575 (14) | 104.175 (29) | 1.797 | 1.937 (14) | -0.866 |
| 25 | Pistons | 12 | 25 | 97.111 (22) | 102.353 (25) | 1.892 | 2.125 (7) | -1.225 |
| 26 | Timberwolves | 9 | 29 | 97.272 (21) | 102.901 (26) | 1.934 | 2.076 (9) | -1.619 |
| 27 | Wizards | 9 | 26 | 94.405 (26) | 100.986 (19) | 1.8 | 2.251 (6) | -2.53 |
| 28 | Nets | 10 | 27 | 93.996 (28) | 101.274 (22) | 1.892 | 2.087 (8) | -3.299 |
| 29 | Kings | 8 | 26 | 94.906 (25) | 101.124 (20) | 1.338 | 0.459 (30) | -4.421 |
| 30 | Cavaliers | 8 | 29 | 93.745 (29) | 103.858 (28) | 1.892 | 1.733 (20) | -6.489 |
The Celtics, with their injury issues and post-Christmas letdown have slipped, and suddenly the Heat (who honestly are two points short of a 25 game winning streak or something) look like your clear #1. I wish I had more insight, but still trying to figure out what happened on this hemisphere the last two weeks!
you know what they say… “Can’t take the heat… get out of the….”