Playoff Predicting Penguin (...I wanted an alliteration)

As the NBA playoffs get nearer every day, only one thing is on my mind: Will the Utah Jazz be in or out? At only 1.5 games behind 8th place Memphis, it is certainly possible. Every night I find myself rooting for the Grizzlies, Rockets, Suns, and Hornets to lose while desparately inhaling every Jazz win I can get. In an effort to see if this is plausible, I present my playoff predictions.

These prediction are not at all based on emotion or hope but solely on statisics (although very rough ones). As of 4:30 pm (MDT), I took every NBA team's record and calculated their estimated win/loss record after playing all 82 games. There is only one rule to my calculations: if your record is better than your opponent's, you win. Homecourt advantage is not taken into account as I have no hard statistics proving what it does for a team's performance (an even record goes to the home team, however). Also, each team is likely to have roughly the same number of home and away games the remainder of the season, thus somewhat nullifying any calculated advantage. And, yes, this was probably a waste of time, but at least it gives me some indication whether or not to get my hopes up.



Not so fast, Lakers and Celtics...

First, the East:
1. Chicago
2. Boston
3. Miami
4. Orlando
5. Atlanta
6. New York
7. Philadelphia
8. Indiana

And the West...
1. San Antonio
2. LA Lakers
3. Dallas
4. Oklahoma City
5. Denver
5. New Orleans (tie)
7. Portland
and 8..........................................Memphis. Crap.