NBA Weekly Rankings: It's Heating Up

As we've returned from the Xmas break, we have a new leader at the top of Sports Analytics Inc' NBA weekly rankings. The Miami Heat with their superior road streak and inspired scoring play from Dwayne Wade and LeBron James is starting to justify the hype as we are almost halfway through the season. The Miami Heat of late have been so scintillating on both defense and offense that they have blown out teams by more than 15 points 19 times, and have started to gel as a team to muster up tough come from behind wins against lower teams like Portland, Golden State and co when they could be excused for one slip up.


As a result this week they top the rankings.

To highlight Sports Analytics INC's rationale we will revisit our ranking system:

Stat	Why measure this statistic?	Weighting Factor
Points per game by team:	How offensively potent are the team	(Pts for – Pts Against) * 10
Opposition points per game	Are they defending well in the hot spot?
Field Goal percentage	Are they making the most of their opportunities?	(FG % - FGA %) *10
Opposition Field Goal percentage	Are they defending well and preventing second chance points?
Points Differential:	Offense compared to defense?	(Pts for – Pts Against) * 10
# of players per team average above 17.5 points per game:	Do they have prime scorers?	Count # * 10
# of players per team average between 7.5 to 17.5 points per game:	Do they have role players that can score?	Count # * 10
# of players rebounding more than 6 rebounds per game:	Are they well served on the glass?	Count # * 15
# of rotation players playing above 22.5 minutes a game:	How big is the team’s dependency?	Count # * 5
# of rotation players playing above 8.5 minutes a game and less than 22.5 minutes a game	How deep are this team?	Count # * 5
Team assists per game:	Do they distribute the ball well?	# * 10
Turnovers committed vs. turnovers forced:	Do they not throw the ball away?	( TO comm. – TO forced )*10
Offensive efficiency vs. Defensive efficiency:	How do they stack up at both ends?	(OE – DE)*2
Current Win-Loss ratio:	How are they tracking with Wins?	10 pts per win
Hot Streak	How are they streaking	10 pts per win -10 pts per loss

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The rankings this week see Miami the big mover due to inspired road play. The Dallas Mavericks slide with injuries and an inability to cover for Dirk and Caron Butler. Denver and Phoenix's inconsistency and surrendering of the season have seen them drop multiple places and the LA Clippers rise from the bottom to start showing competitiveness

Team Code	PPG	FG %	# avg above 17.5 ppg	# avg < 17.5 > 7.5 ppg	# players > 6 rpg	# of quality passers	Wins	Losses	Hot Factor Points	Total Perf. Rating	Weekly Ranking
MIA	101.7	0.475	3	0	3	2	30	9	90	693.720	1
SAS	105	0.470	2	4	2	2	31	6	20	667.940	2
BOS	98.9	0.502	2	2	0	1	28	8	10	564.050	3
LAL	103.3	0.463	2	3	2	2	27	11	40	543.270	4
ORL	98.9	0.468	1	3	1	1	25	12	90	492.290	5
UTH	99.6	0.464	2	4	2	1	25	13	10	456.030	6
DAL	98.1	0.473	1	5	1	2	26	10	-20	451.510	7
CHI	99.3	0.465	2	2	1	1	24	12	10	450.330	8
OKC	103.1	0.454	2	2	2	1	25	13	20	390.070	9
NYK	107.6	0.466	3	3	3	1	21	15	-10	350.800	10
ATL	97.7	0.470	0	3	2	0	25	14	40	451.220	11
NOR	94	0.455	1	5	2	1	22	16	10	333.310	12
POR	95.3	0.439	1	4	2	1	20	18	-10	298.560	13
MEM	100.1	0.461	2	4	3	1	17	20	-10	266.590	14
DEN	105.6	0.459	1	6	1	2	20	16	-30	257.560	15
PHO	105.9	0.475	0	6	0	1	15	20	10	163.730	16
HOU	104.8	0.453	2	4	1	1	16	21	-50	149.290	17
PHI	96.9	0.453	0	5	1	1	15	22	-10	122.280	18
MIL	91.3	0.418	0	3	0	0	14	21	10	115.130	19
CHA	93.1	0.451	1	3	0	2	13	21	20	88.610	20
GSW	101.7	0.454	1	2	0	1	15	22	-10	86.080	21
IND	96.4	0.432	1	3	1	1	14	20	-30	82.390	22
LAC	97.6	0.454	2	1	2	2	12	24	20	76.450	23
DET	95.5	0.449	0	5	1	1	12	24	10	74.300	24
TOR	101	0.470	1	3	1	1	13	24	10	45.400	25
SAC	95.9	0.435	0	6	2	2	8	26	-10	-14.390	26
WAS	95.5	0.437	0	5	2	2	9	26	-10	-25.730	27
NJN	91.9	0.434	1	4	1	2	10	27	-20	-61.040	28