By Tony George
The Playoffs are here!! Many teams wrap up the regular season in the next few days, and of course that makes for some dangerous betting and unpredictable results. I skew the numbers from the last week and next few days as many games are meaningless with teams that matter in the post season, as they are resting players and not playing to potential. For teams like Chicago and Toronto in a battle in the East, games mean something but other than that it is a wash out for opportunity for the most part.
I am looking at the West for my Power ratings headed into the Playoffs and clearly the Lakers are the best team, but surely have not been playing like it as of late, and I am concerned for Lakers backers that they can all of a sudden just flip a switch and be the best, it rarely happens in pro sports like that, because the difference between 1st and 8th is very little folks, rest assured. Here is where I stand, and remember to add 2 points for homecourt, and in Denver’s and Utah’s case be sure to add 3 points, because of the altitude.
LA Lakers 98
Utah Jazz 96
Dallas Mavericks 96 – tie
Denver 94
San Antonio 93
Phoenix Suns 91
Portland Trail Blazers 90
OK City Thunder 89
The Spurs have the 2nd ranked defense right now and the top defense in the west, while Dallas may be a sleeper this season and they are on a 4 game win streak and peaking in the second half of the season right now. They are my dark horse this playoff season. They also have the best road record of any team in the west, which is a key element to winning in the post season, experience winning games away from home. Denver has the worst road record followed by Utah and Phoenix.
All in all some very interesting series upcoming with the 3 and 4 seeds and either one of those series can go either way. The west is tight but the hottest team coming in here is both San Antonio and Dallas, so keep an eye on them. I will have East division out by Friday.
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