NBA ADJUSTED STANDINGS. My son Nick suggested that I post my shorthand way of looking at the NBA standings. I take as par for a team that it wins all its home games and loses all its away games (“holding serve”). Then subtracting a team’s total home games from its win total tells how well it is doing against par. The following is how things stand in the Western and Eastern Conferences in the afternoon on January 1:
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Utah 7 Dallas 7 Phoenix 6 San Antonio 6 Houston 6 LA Lakers 2 Denver 1 Minnesota 0 New Orl./ OKC -1 Golden State -2 Portland -2 Seattle -3 Sacramento -3 LA Clippers -4 Memphis -7 |
Detroit 4 Chicago 3 Washington 3 Indiana 3 Milwaukee 3 Toronto 1 Cleveland 1 Orlando 1 Miami -3 Philadelphia -3 Boston -4 Atlanta -4 NY Knicks -5 NJ Nets -6 Charlotte -7 |
The big changes are that in the Atlantic Division, Toronto has a seven game lead on New Jersey and a four game lead on the second place team, which is Philadelphia. Houston is tied with San Antonio. New Orleans is only a game behind Minnesota for the last playoff position in the West.