NC Watchability Rankings: Heavyweight West Matchups Project as Best of the Week

Jan 10, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes (22) guards Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 120-100. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

There have been a few trends over the first four weeks of Watchability Rankings. One is that Golden State makes matchups against even mediocre teams look like the best of the week, and it seems to hold true on the court. The Warriors couldn’t quite carry games against Philadelphia and Minnesota this week, though. Good scores and likely decent games, but the projections were a distance from the top three.

So this week belongs to the heavyweight matchups out West, which is part of another understandable trend. Along with the Hawks and Cavaliers, the formula likes most playoff-contending West teams[1. Except Memphis and San Antonio, rating decent but not great because of the “highlight” statistics of dunks and fast break points per 100 possessions.] and tonight’s game with the Clippers traveling to Dallas was projected as the most entertaining.

Below are the Watchability rankings for this week’s 27-game sample before all-star weekend. Games sorted by day with their scores and ranks can be viewed here.

With such a small sample I scrapped the top-five, bottom-five format. They’ve become a bit repetitive anyway with the top matchups typically loaded on offense and the least-entertaining games working around scoring by doing well in net rating difference and free throw rate.

There are still some things to note, though. Over the season there have been injuries to all-star caliber players, and now it’ll be interesting if the Clippers can stay afloat without Blake Griffin. The formula loves the Clippers and with more available minutes for Spencer Hawes they’ll probably take more threes and get to the free throw line less. That further helps the Clips here, but the possible benefits from more minutes to Hawes look outweighed by harm, most notably in net rating. They have already declined here partly thanks to the blowouts last week, which means Rockets-Suns tomorrow might take the cake as most entertaining. We’ll see.

Other teams to dip since last Monday were the Wizards, Nuggets, and Jazz. With the losses from those teams, that wasn’t too surprising. Those on the biggest rise are the Thunder, Mavericks, Pelicans, and Spurs. Healthy again, the Thunder are making up ground while the Mavericks’ rise, despite the formula already favoring them strongly, can be attributed to more dunks and fast break points. The Pelicans’ rise came from an uptick in net rating while the Spurs and their opponents have declined in free throw rate.

Next week brings another 27 games, but since they begin next Thursday there will be no rankings. The next update will be on February 23.

Until then, enjoy the games and all-star festivities!