Topping the 60-win plateau for the second season in a row and clinching home court advantage throughout the playoffs, the biggest concern the Cavs have left if figuring out how to mesh all of their pieces once Shaq comes back in the lineup.  With O’Neal’s return likely not until the regular season finale at the earliest, they will have to figure it out in the first round against the Raptors or Bulls.

Enjoy this team, America.  Even if you hate Vince Carter, this team is playing really good basketball and promises to be an entertaining squad to watch as they try to leap the Cavs and return to the NBA Finals.

Hitting on all cylinders right now, the Suns are getting particularly good production out of their bench.  The consistency and reliability of their second unit is one X-factor that makes the Suns a more dangerous playoff team than most of their Western counterparts.

Not time to hit the panic button yet.  But the Lakers have not been living up to their reputation as defending world champions recently.  The things that are going wrong in LA are quick fixes, but will they get back on track before having to get the best shot from a loaded Western Conference playoff slate.

A road swing is not ideal when only half a game separates the 2 and 5 seeds in the West.  The Jazz are much better at home and could most likely benefit the most from getting the second seed.  They really can’t afford to drop either New Orleans or Golden State heading into next week’s finale against the Suns.

The hottest team in the three way tie for sixth place, the Blazers are looking as good as they have all year and are not a team that anyone wants to play in the first round.  A difficult last week could have them drop to 8, which would cause a lot of problems for Lakers they way they are playing right now.

Miami Heat

The Heat haven’t slowed one bit, and now have increased their winning streak to nine games.  Wade is averaging 29.2 points on 53% shooting in his last five games and the Heat are looking strong enough to cause a lot of problems to Atlanta or Boston.

Regardless of age, the Celtics remind us from time to time that their roster includes some of the best players from the last decade.  When they all are properly stretched out at the same time, they can defeat anyone in the NBA.

Manu has reminded the Spurs why he is so valuable in the second half of this season, and the Spurs rewarded that with a three year, $40 million extension.  Part of the second playoff jumble in the West, the Spurs get the gift of having the Grizzlies and Wolves at home as they try to avoid falling to the 8-seed.

One last home stand in the Pepsi Center gives the Nuggets a chance to pull together to improve their chemistry and seeding before starting the playoffs.  Quickly being discounted as no longer a threat, I believe this team still has the heart to grind out a seven game series with the best in the conference.

The Thunder getting absolutely jobbed by the refs against Utah may have cost them up to 2 or 3 spots in the playoffs.  However, if it is any kind of destiny, I ran the AccuScore playoff predictor yesterday for the first time all season – and here is what I got.  Can you imagine?

Losing Bogut for the season makes the chances of a first round victory over Boston or Atlanta much slimmer, but if the Bucks have taught us anything it is not to count them out.  They will be fun to watch for a game or two, but without the big Aussie down low  I don’t like their chances to advance.

Sputtering this week with back to back losses to the Bobcats and Pistons, the Hawks get three winnable (but not guaranteed) games before facing Cleveland at home in the season finale.  They need to use this stretch to get on track if they want to have any shot to make waves in the playoffs.

It’s official! The Bobcats have clinched their first playoff appearance in franchise history.  With their one point win over the Hornets, Charlotte is a long shot to jump Miami for the sixth seed and likely can start preparing for Orlando in the first round.

Losing Chris Bosh for what has been reported as potentially “weeks” with broken facial bones has put the Raps in a vulnerable position in the East.  With only a half-game lead on the Bulls, they will need some help from their bench to keep from giving up their front row tickets to LeBron’s first round sweep party.

Houston Rockets

The high-octane Rockets have strung some impressive wins together in the last two weeks, giving them a good idea of how to best take advantage of this personnel group.  Hint: RUN, the Rockets are 0-16 when scoring less than 95 points.

Miserable finish to the season having to play on the road against the Spurs, Nuggets, and Thunder.  Hopefully a win against Philadelphia in the final home game on Saturday will put a good finish to the season in Gay’s mind and have him consider sticking around to make Memphis a playoff sleeper next year.

With every step they take to get closer to the playoffs, they find some way to shoot themselves in the foot.  Thankfully, the Raptors aren’t doing much better and now will be missing Bosh.  Either way, it’s going to be a four game sweep in the first round

Chris Paul’s most disappointing season since entering the league is finally over with a ligament tear in his finger.  Playing only 45 games this season, Paul needs to really bounce back next season for the Hornets to avoid having the “injury-prone” tag added to his resume.  The rest of the Hornets should be fun to watch as the youngsters continue to develop and find their place in the pro game.

The Pacers continue to play fantastic basketball, leaving everyone in the basketball-crazed state scratching their head and wondering where this was earlier in the season.  Oh wait, with Granger on the bench.

Congrats to Don Nelson for becoming the winningest coach in NBA history with Golden State’s win over Minnesota on Wednesday.  Great that it could happen this season, with Stephen Curry leading a rag-tag group of Warriors to re-energize Nellie, they even have him committing to Summer League.

Big wins at the Clippers and at home against Boston helped stop the last Knicks slide.  With a limping lineup, New York has gotten impressive production from Danilo Gallinari, a player who could be a valuable commodity in a few more seasons.

Philadelphia 76ers

The Sixers have looked competitive against the Heat and Pistons this week, but the inability to close out games is killing them.  Add Thaddeus Young out for the rest of the season, and I think it’s save to say it is time to start focusing on 2010-2011.

Losers of six in a row, the Clippers desperately need to win one of their four remaining games before the season ends.  Thankfully, they have Golden State and Sacramento before having to face Dallas and the Lakers.  If they don’t get it done by Sunday, they are in trouble.

With all the lineup shifting in Washington, Nick Young has taken the opportunity to showcase some of his offensive potential this week with back-to-back 20+ point games this week.  That, along with a couple recent wins and a Shaun Livingston sighting make the Wiz an entertaining watch here at the end.

Turmoil from within the Pistons organization has reverberated through the locker room and out into the Twitter-world.  Thank goodness Joe Dumars just mastered Facebook, so he’s still a few steps behind.

The one salvageable piece to the 2009-2010 season is Tyreke Evans’ pursuit of the historic 20-5-5 rookie mark and the Rookie of the Year award.  I know it’s a team game, but when he’s THAT good, and the team is THAT bad; just pass the ball to REKE.

Picking up yet another win against the Hornets on Saturday, the Nets have been surprisingly competitive and are finishing the season on a strong note.  Not that they had anywhere to go but up, but the Nets are moving in the right direction.

Unbelievably poor play and lack of effort have put the T-Wolves in the unfortunate position of knocking the lowly Nets OUT of last place.