Western Conference:

10.    Portland Trailblazers

Portland is one of the main surprises this season, as they are a team which passed from active dogs to favored by large spreads, which made the bettors struggle a lot. Portland had an amazing month in December, but after that the bookies, knowing that the bettors would start betting on the Blazers , started favoring the team by a large number of points, but as Portland only wins their matches in the last seconds, thanks to their fighting spirit, they can't cover large spreads. From a 17-3 ATS run, Portland is 4-13 ATS right now in their last 17 games. It will be very hard for them to make the playoffs and the key will be a road trip in early March, where they will face the Bucks, the Knicks, Cleveland, Minnesota and the Kings. If Portland makes a good run in this road trip, they may still have some chances to make it to the playoffs, as right at the end of the regular season, they will face almost all of the elite teams of the West. When the team is favored, the under is 13-7 O/U, which is normal as they have an overall record of 20-32 O/U. Their strongest factor has been the home games and it will remain like that. We should never ignore the dog + home game combo for Portland, who is 7-1 ATS in this situation.

9.    Denver Nuggets

Now we enter the group of the nine elite teams in the West, where there is a very little difference of quality between them and where there will be a lot of changes in the table every week. For the 9th position I've chosen Denver, not that I doubt their quality, as they have actually shown a lot of intensity in their last games, but the reason for that is their schedule, which will be terrible. For their remaining 30 games, Denver will have to play twice against Detroit and Toronto, once against Boston, twice against Houston and San Antonio, three times against Phoenix and twice against Utah and Golden State! It's the same to say that Denver will have more than half of their remaining games against teams with a winning record. I'm not doubting the team, but their scenario is very hard for a team which has been very good at home (21-6 SU; 16-11 ATS). It will be necessary for them to dominate their home games and if that happens, Denver may end up 9th in the Conference or even winning it!

8.    Golden State Warriors

What I've said about Denver is also true for Golden State, but simply they won't as much hard games as Denver in the remaining of the regular season. However, the team will have a terrible sequence at the end of March, which will define their future in this season. From March, 21st and April, 2nd the Warriors will face: Rockets, @Lakers, Lakers, Portland, @Denver, Dallas, @Spurs and @Dallas. The team this season is paying the price for what they have done to Dallas in last season's playoffs and they are having huge spreads in their home games, which brought them a 6-16 ATS record this season when they are home favs. Also the title of most exciting team in the league is being correct, as the over is 28-22 in their games and it becomes 16-9 O/U in their home games. The eventual inconsistence of the team will be a huge problem for that to reach the playoffs in a very competitive conference and they will need to raise their actual level to make it to the playoffs, but from the Warriors we can expect everything.

7.    Houston Rockets

The Rockets have reached the All Star break being the hottest team in the league with eight wins in a row and 12 wins in their last 13 games. It is yet to be known if this stop in the league will also stop their momentum. The Rockets have learned that they can't be so dependent of what T-Mac can do and although the team gets an extra boost with him, Houston continues to be competitive when McGrady can't play. Even though they have changed their coach, the team continues to be an aggressive team with Adelman and they have a solid record of 22-30 O/U. The team will now have an easy schedule, playing at home against teams from the East with negative records, which will give them more confidence for the rest of the season. Surely the Rockets will take part of the playoffs this season.

6.    Dallas Mavericks

It seems weird to see Dallas so low in my power ranking, but the true is that in this season Dallas has shown a lot of inconsistence. For example, they have lost 3 of their last 4 matches before the All Star break and with all the story involving the team and Jason Kidd, it is yet to be known what they will be able to do this season. Being certain that Kidd will need time to adapt to a new team and style of play, Dallas will have to play 13 games against teams which are in the first nine positions in the Western conference, pretty much like Denver. This season Dallas is 21-29 ATS until now, far away from last season's numbers, where they finished the regular season with a record of 44-36 ATS. The team has been terrible as an away favorite, having a poor record of 7-14 ATS. The Kidd effect may not also help the handicapper, as the team will have some large spreads in games where Kidd won't be 100% adapted to the team yet. A team to avoid, in my opinion.