With less than a month until the end of the NBA regular season, the pressure is cranked to the max for a handful of teams that still feel they can make something out of this topsy-turvy campaign.
For others, such as the highly disappointing Philadelphia 76ers, whatever pressure was there before is now as low as it's been all season. The hobbled Dallas Mavericks, following perhaps the most shocking trade in NBA history, have been forced to look at their season differently, too.
Still, there are teams with enormous motivation -- even after their highly uneven starts -- to make noise as the postseason draws near. With that in mind, we analyzed the seven teams that have seen their playoff probabilities fall by at least 25% since the beginning of the season, according to ESPN's Basketball Power Index (BPI), spreading them into four tiers based on how much heat they're feeling in the final stretch.
Dallas Mavericks (33-35)