Well, the past week in the NBA has been fun, hasn’t it? With 34 days left in the regular season and 40 until the playoffs start, there hasn’t been a dull moment unpacking storylines that would put a twinkle in Mona Scott-Young’s eye. 

LeBron James went down with a foot injury as the hobbled Los Angeles Lakers look to sneak into the play-in tournament on the already injury-prone body of Anthony Davis. Steph Curry has returned to the defending NBA Champions, the Golden State Warriors, who were riding a five-game winning streak, have been trending upward and should have the rest of the league worried. Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are still struggling, even with the recent addition of Kyrie Irving. And the New York Knicks—ah, yes, the Knicks. The Blue and Orange skies haven’t looked brighter as they’ve won nine straight games and 12 out of their last 14. Yes, the Knicks are proving that the stouter teams in the league shouldn’t take them lightly. Yes, the city is under new “old” management, with the crosstown Brooklyn Nets trading Irving and Kevin Durant. And yes, one thing is a certainty; Bing Bong Nation will continue to be excessively and aggressively annoying on television, radio and everyone’s social media timeline as they prepare their championship parade down the Canyon of Heroes…in their mind. 

We’ll revisit that next week and see if they crack our top five. For now, these are the best teams to pay attention to based on their season’s sample size and what they did on the hardwood last week.