1 Wizards NO REGRETS. The Wizards have the best record in the NBA since Jan. 1. They just rattled off four wins in five nights including back-to-back wins in overtime on a west coast road trip, even if they were against sub-.500 teams. John Wall is a cyborg ninja, Bradley Beal is a pure weapon, and this team just finds ways to wins. Everyone else fell, the Wizards keep rolling. No regrets! 5 25-47

2 Spurs The Spurs slipped up vs. OKC, but given their win over Houston and ... whatever you want to call Saturday night's win, they remain hotter than almost any other team. 1 32-39

3 Rockets They're still an elite team, and the other teams around them had worse weeks. So I'm giving them a pass for the Jazz and Spurs losses and keeping them high, especially after that win over Cleveland on Sunday. 1 44-28

4 Celtics Not a great road trip. Their whole M.O. has switched since the All-Star Break. Now all of a sudden they beat teams like the Warriors and Cavs but lose to the Nuggets and Suns. I'm giving them credit for the Warriors win despite this being Golden State's low point. If not for that win in Oracle, they'd have taken quite a tumble. 1 48-24

5 Cavaliers Lost in Golden State's slump is Cleveland's dip, having lost five of six after losing to Houston. The Cavs have a gear no one in their conference can hit. As long as they get there, all of this is fine. But if they don't ... these foibles will be historical evidence of what led them to disappointment 3 19-46

6 Warriors Stephen Curry is Thunderstuck. Or snakebit. Or something. Anyway, he's shooting 30 percent in his last 10 games. He's going to get back to normal at some point and the Warriors will start winning again, and that's before Durant gets back. However, this whole episode has largely exposed the fact that the Warriors' underpinnings aren't sound. It may not matter; they have Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry (and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green). But there are real weaknesses to this team. 1 15-50

7 Heat Miami has lost five times since Jan. 13. That's a long time for this to be some sort of outlier. It seems more likely that their first two months weren't reflective of who this team is. They're tough, they can shoot, they're versatile. We're all still waiting for them to fail, because their makeup is hard to believe in. But believability might just need to come from their results, which have been stellar. 1 44-29

8 Thunder Can't quit on the Thunder, man. No one pulls up out of tailspin faster than OKC, who knocked off San Antonio and Utah after losing four straight. The assumption is that they don't have the firepower to hang in a playoff series ... but a tough defense, experienced guys, a chip on their shoulder... and Westbrook? Yeah, you can have that if you want it. 4 44-28

9 Jazz Here's Utah's situation in a nutshell: if they beat the teams they should, they'll hang onto the 4-seed and that gives them at least a coin flip in the first round. Win the first round, the season's a smashing success. But their tiebreakers and matchups with the playoff teams are bad all over. They can't let up from now until their season is done. -- 44-28

10 Pistons They've spaced in losses which have hidden it, but this team is 12-6 since Feb. 1. Unfortunately, their offense hasn't improved at all. At this point it's about finding a way to sneak enough wins to secure a playoff spot and then hoping for a favorable matchup vs. Boston or Toronto. 8 20-46

11 Hawks Atlanta is very much a "sure" team. Can they get homecourt in the first round? Sure. Can they win a playoff series? Sure. Can they get crushed? Sure. Can they re-sign Millsap this summer? Sure. You just don't really believe in much of it. 2 20-47

12 Clippers The Clippers have won four of five, against some good teams. They've got a good shot at holding onto the 4-5 matchup, and they'll likely be favored in the first round. So basically, they've got a month and a half to figure out how to beat Golden State or San Antonio in the second round. Good luck with that. 3 49-23

13 Raptors Can they survive until the playoffs? They've got a tough stretch vs. teams that aren't juggernauts, but are all playing for playoff position. It's stating the obvious, but they need Lowry back. The good news is that their defense is seven points better with P.J. Tucker on the court. 3 53-19

14 Mavericks So, uh ... how is it that a team playing Yogi Ferrell, Seth Curry, a post-Achilles-injury Wesley Matthews, and a 38-year-old Dirk Nowitzki is top-10 in defense? Has Rick Carlisle just hacked this team, like it's a video game he just adjusted the settings on? How? -- 43-32

15 Pacers The Pacers continue to be just stellar at home, which is great for them. Unfortunately, they have more road games than home games left. Going .500 the rest of the way is kind of a best-case scenario at this point. 1 45-28

16 Bucks So these guys are good again, I guess? They are now seven points better defensively per 100 possessions in March than they were in February. This team's trajectory over the course of the season has made me seasick. Stop the rocking. 3 56-17

17 Timberwolves Look, I'm not one to throw out accusations. I'm just asking the question. Are we SURE that Tom Thibodeau didn't replace all of the Wolves with cyborg replacements at the All-Star Break. 3 19-45

18 Bulls The wheels fell off. Chicago has lost six of seven after Boston jumped up and down on their heads Sunday. Their closing schedule is cottage cheese, but they have to get there first. It's Defcon 1 for this team, who genuinely seem to loathe the coaching, management, their teammates, everything. 11 22-43

19 Nuggets Denver's win over Boston was the best version of themselves. It only took them four and a half months to find it, just in time for their schedule o become a swirling maelstrom of demons. But hey, better late than never, right? 2 46-27

20 Trail Blazers Jusuf Nurkic has changed everything for them, and it's a testament to Nurkic's drive to take advantage of a situation, Terry Stotts' coaching to get him to be more of a willing passer, and the other stars' receptiveness to embracing him. 3 35-39

21 Grizzlies There are times when you should remain calm and carry on, keeping your head. Then there are times when the distress is so real, you might as well just get out of the way of panicking hordes, lighting their torches on the way out. Get your lighters, Memphis' tailspin seems like something it's not going to pull out of. 10 34-39

22 Hornets Charlotte's loss to New Orleans Saturday was a back breaker. Four back in the loss column, and their tiebreaker situations are bad. It's going to take a killer run, starting now, for them to catch. -- 23-42

23 Knicks You want to say "Not even the Knicks can screw up their one good thing they have left, Kristaps Porzingis." But then you think, "I mean, it IS the Knicks ..." -- 21-45

24 Suns I am going to be skeptical of them ever turning this around until they do. But under the radar, there have been some really promising signs lately. They've been bad, but not awful. -- 34-39

25 Pelicans New Orleans is two losses away from clinching a losing record this season and they left DeMarcus Cousins on the bench when they made their comeback vs. Charlotte on Saturday. They have Boogie for a song and their fortunes haven't changed. That's about as bad of a sign as you'll find. 2 30-42

26 76ers Dario Saric is probably going to win Rookie of the Year, which would mean that the Sixers drafted the guy who was supposed to win ROY (Simmons), the guy who was going to win ROY (Embiid) and the guy won won ROY. That seems not bad. 1 43-30

27 Lakers Well, sure, Kobe Bryant may wind up running this team, based on comments made when Rob Pelinka was introduced this week. But it's not like enigmatic, legendary players have ever failed in management situations. (Cue the flashing images of Michael Jordan with the Wizards, Magic Johnson's stint as coach, the end of the Joe Dumars run.) 1 52-19

28 Magic Would you describe the Magic's season as more of a disaster, or a nightmare? Or is it like if you had a nightmare about a disaster? Or a disaster made of nightmares? There are a lot of interesting questions about just how bad this season was for them. 1 33-40

29 Kings Buddy Hield looks good. Willie Cauley-Stein looks good. Skal Labissiere looks good. There are things to feel good about with this team, if you can get past the Kings-ness of it all. 3 31-41