I wrote this out and thought it had posted before, but it seems to have disappeared.
18 games ago, on January 23 the Jazz were 11 games behind the Wolves (they've gained 9), 10.5 behind the Spurs (they've gained 8.5), 7.5 behind the Thunder (they've gained 5.5), 6.5 behind the Pelicans (they've gained 3), 6 behind the Blazers (they've gained 2), 5 behind the Nuggets (they've gained 5) and 4.5 behind the Clippers (they've gained 4.5). If the next 17 games go the way the previous 18 did the only team that's safely ahead is Portland, New Orleans will be hanging on by the slimmest of margins, and Down Under will be sporting a fancy new user name because something he said had an "absolutely 0% chance of happening" will have happened.
(edit: Just discovered that my original post went to a different thread. Don't know how that happened. Oh well.)