NFL:  Weeks 14 & 15, Assessment & Projections // NBA: Current Status

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SPORTS NOTEBOOK will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday

of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:     IT’s that time when the NFL season transforms, when known is that from a grid containing 32 franchises only a few will move into playoff slots and have a chance to reach the Super Bowl. Weeks 14 and 15 are surely pivotal, this year lending certainty of a playoff appearance to three division-leading teams, the American Conference West’s 10-3 Denver Broncos, the AC East’s 10-3 New England Patriots, and the National Conference South’s 11-2 Atlanta Falcons.

Because the 11-2 Houston Texans lost to the Patriots last night, 42-14, they are but two games ahead of AC South’s Indianapolis Colts. If the Texans lose their next two games and the Colts win their final two, these teams could tie at first place, or, from accumulated points, the Colts could be the AC South’s leading team as the season closes, which this page believes is doubtful (the Texans will probably stay AC South’s division leader if only by one win).

The AC North’s leading franchise, the 9-4 Baltimore Ravens, is also two wins ahead of a runner up team, the 7-6 Pittsburgh Steelers. On Sunday, the Ravens will face the Broncos. Defeating the Broncos will enhance Baltimore’s playoff candidacy, especially if the Steelers lose on Sunday to the NC East’s 7-6 Dallas Cowboys.         

Within the NC, the 11-2 Falcons are the only leading franchise with a hefty jump ahead of runner-up franchise, the 6-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The three other NC division leading teams are respectively only one win ahead of number two teams---the 9-3 San Francisco 49ers above the 8-5 Seattle Seahawks, the 8-5 New York Giants one above the 7-6 Washington Redskins, the 9-4 Green Bay Packers over the 8-5 Chicago Bears. And so, there is the possibility of upsets, e.g., Week 14's unexpected Falcons loss to the now 4-9 Carolina Panthers.

Fourteen NFL franchises are below .500 as of today (more losses than wins). That’s nearly half the league. Eight of these teams exist within the AC, six within the NC. Turning this over, that’s eight winning franchises belonging to the AC, and 10 within the NC, which underscores rough parity among the conferences, and which paints the NFL as fair and just. Look deeper, however, and equality lessens, with three of the AC West’s four teams not only below .500, one being beneath .400 and two below .300, the 3-10/.231 Oakland Raiders, and the 2-11/.154 Kansas City Chiefs (tied with the 2-11/154 Jacksonville Jaguars as worst in the league).

Within the AC North, only one team is below .500, the 5-8/.385 Cleveland Browns. As for the NC West, NC East and NC North, each has but one team below .500, respectively the 4-9/.308 Arizona Cardinals, the 4-9/.308 Philadelphia Eagles and the 4-9/.308 Detroit Lions.

So, likely seeded within the AC playoffs will be the Texans, the Patriots, the Broncos, the Ravens and the Colts (wild card), and for the NC playoffs surely the Falcons, then the 49ers or the Seahawks, the Giants or the Redskins, also the Packers or the Bears. This page’s picks for the NC end-of-season outcome, “playoffs involving the Falcons, the 49ers, the Giants, the Packers, with the Seahawks or Bears as the wild card.”

NBA:  After more than a month into the 2012/2013 NBA season, you could start believing that "predictability" reigns in sports, for several teams thought in October to be leading the NBA by today are doing just that. As an example, the 17-4 Oklahoma City Thunder is leading the Western Conference’s Northwest Division, the 18-4 San Antonio Spurs the WC’s Southwest Division and the 14-6 Los Angeles Clippers the WC’s Pacific Division.

Within the NBA’s Eastern Conference, the 15-3 New York Knicks are leading the Atlantic Division, the 14-5 Miami Heat the EC’s Southeast Division and the 11-8 Chicago Bulls the EC’s Central Division.

But---"unpredictability" rushes forward as a characteristic of sports when you notice that only a few of today’s number one NBA teams have commanding leads, e.g., the 14-6 Clippers are barely ahead of the 14-7 Golden State Warriors. Too, the Heat is but two games up on the Atlanta Hawks, and the Bulls are only one game ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Too, the WC Northwest’s Denver Nuggets, which finished last season 38-28 and went to the playoffs, is now but 10-11, therefore below .500 and fourth within its division; and, last season’s top WC-Pacific Division team, the L.A. Lakers, they are third in that division today, 9-12 and below .500.

Also, last year’s last place EC East’s New Jersey Nets (now, the Brooklyn Nets), they are in second place behind the Knicks today. Moreover, last season’s last place NBA franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats, they just won a seventh game, which is all that they managed to win all during 2012/13. . .  All that this page is saying now, is that in NBA basketball, “unpredictability triumphs.”

END/mlR