NBA PLAYOFF TIME..............................2022 STYLE

POWER RATING I....................................................

1. Celtics 7.43

2. Suns 7.21

3. Warriors 6.58

4. Heat 4.66

5. Grizz 4.31

6. Bucks 3.38

7. Mavs 2.78

8. 76ers 2.43

At first glance the no. 1 seeded Heat are only 4th ? And no. 2 seeded Grizz only 5th ? Don't look like very strong 1 and 2 seeds. 76ers did play better with Harden on the team, maybe we could give them 1 additional pt, certainly not more then 2. 2 pts would put them close to the Heat but 1 pt and they are back a ways.

MY LINES............................................

Celtics -7.55 over Bucks

Heat -5.73 over 76ers

Suns -7.93 over Mavs

Grizz -1.23 over Warriors 

Celtics off 4 ATS wins, not a good spot, but Bucks off 3 ATS wins, not a good spot . play is on the Celtics.

76ers without Embiid, giving 76ers additional pts for Harden but then giving Heat pts for Embiid being out, line is about right. 

Warriors off 2 ATS losses very good spot,  Grizz off 1 ATS win not a good or bad spot....play is on the Warriors

Like both alot  Celtics and Suns to win the series,  Bucks are not playing as well as last year and now without Middleton. Mavs are a one man show without a good team around him they should go down this round if Booker plays which I saw he was ready.

POWER RATING II......................................

1. Grizz 54.59

2. Celtics 54.21

3. Warriors 53..68

4. Suns 53.59

5. Heat 52.84

6. Bucks 51.99

7. Mavs 51.41

8. 76ers 50.38

Here the no. 2 seeded Grizz look way better but no. 1 seeded Heat still don't look like a true no. 1 seed. But look who brings up the rear again, 76ers, we could give them another 1 maybe 2 with Harden  but without Embiid can't fade the weak no. 1 seeded Heat. They'll likely win the series which sets up nicely for the Celtics to roar into the Finals over the Heat.

Defending Champ Bucks at 6th in both PR's and now without Middleton

Mavs 7th in both PR's.

There are 3 teams with the common denominators of past NBA Champs.......................................

Celtics, Suns and Warriors........very likely one of these 3 teams walks off with the trophy.

MY NO.1 RANKED TEAM AND MY FAVORITE TO WIN THE TITLE IS....................................CELTICS

Suns and Warriors look about even, might give a small edge to Suns but could see either team winning the West.

The Grizz are to weak shooting the ball, they rank 17th in 3 pt shooting, 23rd in 2 pt shooting and 28th in FT shooting. They get out-shot in 2 pt shooting and FT shooting while barely out-shooting opps in 3 pt shooting. They are a dominate rebounding  but weak in shooting efficiency margin .

Teams like this don't win titles but they do rank no. 1 in PR II so we cannot dismiss them from winning the West as the reason they rank no. 1 while being weak in shooting efficiency margin is there really are no strong teams this season so for this reason we can't just dismiss them with their weak shooting.

At the end of the day, I'd side with shooting efficiency margin over rebounding.

Philly is for sure going to have a tough time without Joel, but I see the rest of these teams as being very close to each other, closer than most think anyway. And yeah Tatum has looked unstoppable, but somebody along they should have an answer for him. 

I agree on Dall/px -300 way too much for that series and I think Gst-250 way too high also, but you’re right Memphis has been struggling with shooting, they only do it when they have to. If Morant could hit 3’s at 40% instead of 30 or whatever they might be unbeatable. 

GL

No NBA team in the last twenty years finished as far ahead of the rest of the pack as the Suns did, and the Suns are only the 11th team in the league's 75-year history to win 8 or more regular season games than the next best team. Nine of those ten previous teams went on to win the title. The only team that failed was the 1972-73 Celtics who lost their best player to injury during the Eastern conference finals.

@MrBator

 Did any of these occur within the last 30 years?

 (The 9 of 10 to go on to win the championship)

Yes, the '92 and '96 Bulls and the 2000 Lakers.

@MrBator

 That's record-wise but a teams record is not the best indicator of success.

Far majority of teams that win the title finsih over 54 in PR II, Suns are under 54 therefore I would not consider them a strong team.

That'd be a better indicator then record. But I wouldn't count them out as no other team is a strong team either.

If we look at those other teams almost certainly that would rank stronger then the Sun's.

Question....If we looked at those other 10 teams, we'd be talking about an era when teams didn't throw games away towards the end of the regular season to "rest" players (and cheat the fans). The Suns chose to throw away three easily winnable games over the final eight days of the season by sitting out all of their starters (except for Mikal Bridges whom they played limited minutes so he could keep his consecutive games streak alive). No other serious contender this season had the luxury of doing this. So how much, would you say, that three virtual forfeits affects the power rating?

@MrBator so are the suns your pick from the west?  Who do you like from the east?

Suns vs. Celtics

@MrBator

 What's your thoughts on the heat vs 76ers series. 

@MrBator

 That's true but remember that is 3 games out of 82 games. Mathematically how much effect do you think 3 games of 82 will have.

Very small, you are talking tenths of a point, like maybe 2 or 3 tenths of one point 

It  basically be irrelevant.

If over 10 or 15 games even that out of 82 games won't have an overly big effect unless they completely tanked and got blown out several times.

@MrBator

 96 Bulls would rank 1st all-time in PR II, 92 Bulls would rank top 10 all-time in PRII maybe  top 5.

2000 Lakers would rank likely top 10 all-time 

Your comparing those teams with the Suns who are not even no. 1 this season in either PR with weak other teams 

96 Bulls are the only team in history over a 58 rating in PRII, I think no other team is over 57 except the Bulls.

The Bulls have at least 3 teams top 10 all-time. 92 is one I pretty sure .

There may not be another team over 56.5 except the Bulls  , will ook it up.

That's what happened in those three games earlier this month against the Thunder, Clippers, and Kings. 

86 Boston Celtics ? 

Suns are the best team in the NBA this year and will have to prove it now. Boston playing great team ball but the Nets had no defense nor did they play team basketball. 

@MrBator

 You are talking 3 games of 82

Celtics -4.5 over Bucks --- 1.1 units

Warriors -2 over Grizz - 1.1 unit

Celtics to win series over the Bucks -205 ---- 2.05 units to win 1 unit

Good info claw and Bator  

@collectNOW

 2 of the very best

0-2 ATS, lost 2.2 units

Bucks shot very well on 3's , not much you can do about that. Bucks now in a very bad spot, we'll come back on Celtics game 2.

Very aggravating watching the Warriors with Green ejection and how things played out at the end with missed FT. 

MY LINES.........................................

Heat -5.73 over 76ers

Suns -7.93 over Mavs

with Embiid out we obviously would make the  Heat a bigger fav, all things considered line seems about right,

Suns off 2 ATS wins  not the best spot but not bad.

Mavs off 5 ATS wins, very bad spot and my lines clearly favor the Suns, play is on the Suns

Suns -5.5 over Mavs --- 2.2 units