We saw it last year with the Dallas Mavericks (RIP) and countless times before, from the “Clutch City” Rockets to the ‘99 Knicks. Get hot at the right time, and suddenly, nothing’s off the table.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been grinding just to make the playoffs or clawing your way back from the dead, momentum is real. A force that, when it catches the right team, can carry them all the way to the top.

If you want to predict a flight path, you study the trajectory. So let’s take a closer look at the teams whose charts are pointing up.

The Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers were up and down through the first half of the season, but turns out adding Luka Doncic to a basketball team makes them a whole lot better.

With Luka demanding absurd levels of defensive attention and making impossible passes look routine, everyone in purple and gold looks rejuvenated.

LeBron’s reinvented his off ball game, Austin Reaves is thriving as a secondary playmaker, even Jaxson Hayes looks different.

Add in some high level role players in Trey Jemison and the hustle savant Jordan Goodwin, and you have a legitimate championship level core, peaking at just the right time.

The Golden State Warriors

Can we please stop telling these guys it’s over?

After the whole NBA world wrote them off, the Golden State front office made a high profile deadline acquisition of their own and so far, it’s been beautifully harmonious.

Steph is still Steph, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, but now the Dubs have another creator. A gritty two way slasher that can threaten defenses and make plays in crunch time.

With Jimmy Butler probing defenses, Draymond Green setting the tone and divvying up assists, and number 30 doing what number 30 does, it’s starting to look a little like 2022.

The Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee’s taken its lumps trying to figure out this Lillard Giannis pairing.

Last year, without a camp to gel and a midseason coaching change for good measure, the Bucks failed to find lineups that complimented each other and role players that filled in the gaps.

At the beginning of this year it looked to be more of the same, then AJ Green, Andre Jackson, and Gary Trent came to the party.

We get it, it’s easy to overlook a team that spent most of this year on a volatile rollercoaster, but the Bucks are 8-2 in their last 10. Fear the deer?

The Detroit Pistons

We aren’t saying the Pistons will contend for a title this year, but if you’re looking at these guys as an easy out come playoff time, you will be sorely mistaken.

With Cade Cunningham running the point and creating opportunities at a ridiculous clip, a group of energetic young guys with the grit to really get low and play defense, and a handful of surly vets that know how to win and can be counted on to knock down key shots, a trip to Detroit in may will be anything but a walk in the park.

You don’t want to see a packed little caesars arena.

The Cleveland Cavaliers

This one is kind of cheating, Cleveland has been unreal all year, but with them being 10-0 in their last 10 games, and 14-1 in their last 15, we had to put them on this list. 

In that span they’ve taken down the Celtics, Knicks, Wolves, and Pistons, while maintaining the best offensive rating in the league, and the third best defensive rating. 

They can bury you in a matter of minutes, unleashing an avalanche of buckets while walling off the rim with their two twin towers.

The ball watchers have caught on, the public will soon enough. This Cavs team is as real as it gets.