NBA By: Jack & Carlos

Around the NBA
After the NBA lockout this offseason, the NBA got off to a great start. Now teams in the Western and Eastern conferences are fighting playoffs spots. The Bucks are in the 9th spot trailing the Knicks in the East and there are 8 playoff teams from each conference. In the West Phoenix is in the 9th spot behind Denver Nuggets. With about 15 games left for most of the teams every team is fighting to get into the playoffs.

The Players
There have been many players excelling this season. In the West he Clippers, Blake Griffin has had many standout dunks. Alongside him Chris Paul who was acquired from the Hornets directly after the offseason and Chauncey Billups tore his ACL. On the Thunder Kevin Durant has been having a great season along with Russsel Westbrook. Durantula and Russel have had two games this season were both of them had 40+ points in a game. Even though the Spurs are old they are playing well. Finally Ricky Rubio had an ACL injury that sidelined him for the rest of the year.
In the East the Bulls and D-Rose have the best record in the league at 42-13. Also the Heat are having a good year but Jack has a feeling that they will not get their championship ring this year either while that’s what Carlos predicts. The Celtics have had a good run since the all-star break and are currently in the 3rd seed in the east. The Bucks have acquired Monta Ellis in a trade for Andrew Bogut, and the first pick in the draft Kyrie Irving is making a case for the ROY trophy.

The Lockout
During the Lockout many veterans relaxed because they could finally have a long offseason, but the younger players such as Kevin Durant and Kevin Love worked hard in the offseason to stay in shape. The NBAPA (NBA players association) and the NBA owners disagreed on the revenue split. The previous deal was in favor of the players 57% to 43% now after this lockout the split is 51-49 in favor of the players. The lockout affected the rookies the most because they hadn’t gotten paid yet and didn’t have a job.

Playoff Preview

We predict that the Eastern Conference Finals will be Chicago v Miami. Jack says it’ll be the Bulls in 7 games and Carlos says it’ll be the Heat in 6 games. In the west we predict the Conference Finals will be OKC v Dallas. Carlos thinks it’ll be the Thunder in 7 and Jack thinks it’ll be the Thunder in 5. Jack’s NBA finals is Bulls v Thunder and the Thunder in 6 games. Carlos’ finals is the Heat against the Thunder. He says the Heat will win in 5 games.




EASTERN W
L
PCT
GB
HOME
ROAD
DIV
CONF
PF
PA
DIFF STRK
L10
1 x - Chicago
42 13 .764 - 21-6 21-7 10-1 31-7 96.8 88.8 +8.0 Lost 2 6-4
2 x - Miami
39 14 .736 2 23-2 16-12 8-3 29-8 100.6 93.5 +7.1 Won 2 7-3
3 Indiana
33 21 .611 8 ½ 17-7 16-14 4-3 22-16 96.9 94.0 +2.9 Won 3 7-3
4 Boston
30 23 .566 11 19-9 11-14 6-4 23-12 91.5 89.8 +1.7 Lost 1 7-3
5 Orlando
32 22 .593 9 ½ 18-10 14-12 7-5 25-14 94.3 92.7 +1.6 Lost 4 4-6
6 Atlanta
32 23 .582 10 18-8 14-15 9-3 25-14 95.1 93.1 +2.0 Won 1 6-4
7 Philadelphia
29 25 .537 12 ½ 19-11 10-14 4-4 22-14 93.3 88.2 +5.1 Lost 2 4-6
8 New York
27 27 .500 14 ½ 18-10 9-17 6-6 20-17 97.2 94.7 +2.5 Lost 1 7-3


Milwaukee
26 28 .481 15 ½ 13-12 13-16 6-6 20-18 98.9 98.4 +0.4 Won 2 6-4
Detroit
20 33 .377 21 14-12 6-21 3-8 15-21 90.1 95.4 -5.3 Won 2 4-6
Toronto
20 35 .364 22 11-17 9-18 5-7 12-26 91.9 95.1 -3.1 Won 3 5-5
New Jersey
19 37 .339 23 ½ 7-19 12-18 4-4 13-25 92.9 98.6 -5.6 Lost 2 4-6
Cleveland
17 35 .327 23 ½ 9-18 8-17 3-8 9-27 93.3 99.9 -6.6 Lost 9 1-9
Washington
12 42 .222 29 ½ 7-21 5-21 2-7 8-28 93.2 100.2 -7.0 Lost 3 2-8
Charlotte
7 45 .135 33 ½ 4-20 3-25 1-9 5-32 88.0 100.8 -12.8 Lost 9 1-9
Western Conference
WESTERN W
L
PCT
GB
HOME
ROAD
DIV
CONF
PF
PA
DIFF STRK
L10
1 x - Oklahoma City
40 14 .741 - 23-5 17-9 9-2 29-10 103.0 96.7 +6.3 Lost 2 7-3
2 San Antonio
38 14 .731 1 21-4 17-10 10-4 24-11 101.6 96.2 +5.4 Won 9 9-1
3 LA Lakers
35 20 .636 5 ½ 23-5 12-15 8-3 26-11 96.5 94.0 +2.5 Won 4 7-3
4 LA Clippers
32 22 .593 8 20-9 12-13 4-6 21-17 97.3 95.1 +2.2 Lost 1 6-4
5 Memphis
30 23 .566 9 ½ 18-7 12-16 5-6 19-20 95.0 93.8 +1.2 Lost 1 5-5
6 Dallas
31 24 .564 9 ½ 20-9 11-15 7-4 21-18 94.5 93.3 +1.2 Won 1 6-4
7 Houston
29 25 .537 11 20-8 9-17 5-6 18-19 98.1 97.5 +0.7 Won 1 5-5
8 Denver
29 25 .537 11 15-12 14-13 3-7 14-23 103.3 101.9 +1.4 Lost 1 5-5


Phoenix
28 26 .519 12 16-11 12-15 7-5 18-18 97.1 97.4 -0.3 Won 3 6-4
Utah
28 27 .509 12 ½ 19-8 9-19 7-4 18-20 99.0 99.1 -0.1 Lost 1 5-5
Portland
26 29 .473 14 ½ 19-10 7-19 4-8 18-20 97.2 96.1 +1.1 Won 1 5-5
Minnesota
25 31 .446 16 13-14 12-17 4-6 19-21 98.8 99.4 -0.6 Lost 4 3-7
Golden State
21 32 .396 18 ½ 11-16 10-16 7-6 14-21 97.9 100.2 -2.3 Won 1 3-7
Sacramento
19 35 .352 21 14-13 5-22 2-8 14-23 98.7 104.1 -5.4 Lost 1 4-6
New Orleans
14 40 .259 26 6-21 8-19 1-8 8-29 89.0 93.6 -4.6 Won 1 4-6
z - Clinched Conference
y - Clinched Division
x - Clinched Playoff Berth