By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

The Los Angeles Lakers couldn't have made a more emphatic return to the top spot in ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings.

They also finally have some Western Conference company in the upper reaches of the rankings.

The Lakers' jump back to No. 1 was automatic after they responded to a recent home loss to Charlotte and the long-term loss of center Andrew Bynum by uncorking a 6-0 road trip, which they capped with their two finest victories of the season, winning at Boston and Cleveland back-to-back to end the Celtics' 12-game win streak and the Cavs' 23-game home win streak.

L.A. is joined in the top two this week by the Spurs, who have capitalized on a physically and emotionally draining week for the East's top three to move to their highest position of the season. With a road win of its own in Boston, San Antonio improved to 32-10 since a 2-5 start caused largely by the early injury absences of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

You can click here to rank the teams yourself or click here to comment.

Also, check out John Hollinger's daily Power Rankings.

Tune in Tuesdays to "NBA Fastbreak" on ESPN to see this week's U.S. Army Power Rankings. The Lakers are the U.S. Army Team of the Week after completing season sweeps of Boston and Cleveland with road wins in both cities.

2008-09 Power Rankings: Week 15
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (4)	Lakers	41-9	If the past seven days say anything, it's that this team is better than last season's Lakers -- even if Bynum can't come back -- because of this Pau, Ariza ... and if the Odom we saw in Boston and Cleveland sticks around.
	2 (5)	Spurs	34-15	Looks like that Popovich fellow knew just what he was doing when he ordered Timmy, Manu and Tony to skip the game in Denver, gas up during the four days off that followed and then leave it all on the floor in Boston.
	3 (1)	Celtics	42-11	Can't see the Celtics sliding into another 2-7 funk after their second streak-busting loss to the Lakers. But Boston just allowed 100 points in three successive games, which is something else we didn't expect to see.
	4 (3)	Cavaliers	39-10	First Mo Williams is snubbed again for an All-Star spot, then LeBron is stripped of his MSG triple-double, then the home winning streak is halted by the Lakers. Weeks don't get much more deflating for teams up here.
	5 (2)	Magic	38-12	Jameer is obviously borderline irreplaceable for the Magic, but all of us will feel the loss, too. Hard to see how the second round of the East playoffs can be as tasty as we thought with Orlando missing such a major piece.
	6 (6)	Nuggets	34-17	No one has been more ruthless against teams sitting at or below .500 than the Nuggets, which makes Saturday's no-show in New Jersey all the more inexplicable. Denver was 21-1 before the Nets trounced them by (gulp) 44.
	7 (7)	Trail Blazers	31-19	All this happened years before Roy and Oden were even born, but it still means something to Blazermaniacs: Portland's 26-0 start at home in 1977-78 stays No. 3 on the all-time list now that Cleveland is 23-1 at home.
	8 (8)	Rockets	31-20	Houston is as healthy as it's been in ages, but there's another problem: Wednesday's loss in Memphis means that four last-place teams (Grizzlies, Pacers, Wizards and Raptors) have inflicted six losses on the Rockets.
	9 (9)	Hornets	30-18	Have to be honest: Didn't think the Hornets would ever win a game without Chris Paul after watching their total capitulation to Portland on the night CP3 strained his groin. Somehow they've stolen two wins in a row.
	10 (14)	Jazz	29-23	No one in the SLC is celebrating just yet -- not until Boozer and Kirilenko are back for real -- but there might finally be reason for optimism on the health front: Deron Williams is looking more and more like D-Will again.
	11 (10)	Mavericks	30-20	Jason Terry has missed only 12 games in his first 9½ seasons. Yet these Mavs have little to no margin for error, so they can only pray Terry pulls a Melo and makes it back from his hand injury in three weeks or so.
	12 (13)	Suns	28-21	With no team taking and making more calls than the Suns leading up to the trading deadline -- and with All-Star Weekend just days away -- Phoenix finds itself as the undisputed center of the NBA universe. Like it or not.
	13 (12)	76ers	25-24	C'mon, Sixers. Split your two games this week -- home dates with Phoenix and Memphis -- and the East sends seven teams into the All-Star break with a winning record. Not bad given how Elton Brand's first season went.
	14 (11)	Heat	27-23	There will be 30-some games after the All-Star break to wax poetic about what D-Wade is doing. All that matters in Miami, for the next week-plus, is what Pat Riley does with his busy phone before the trade deadline.
	15 (15)	Hawks	29-21	The Hawks must have been good in November and December, because they've matched the 29 wins notched at the All-Star break by the '97-98 Hawks in spite of all the injuries (Bibby is the latest) and a frigid January.
	16 (18)	Pistons	27-22	Detroit shock? Rip Hamilton confirms his Pistons are stunned to be this average: "This is tough for us because we're used to being the bully. We're not used to ... losing streaks and the stuff that's going on right now."
	17 (22)	Bulls	22-29	Distressed as the Bulls were to start and finish a seven-game trip with one-point losses in overtime, they couldn't complain too much. They were 5-16 on the road before leaving town, so going 4-3 doesn't sound too bad.
	18 (23)	Nets	24-28	Pretty much the same thing we said about the Heat applies to the Nets. On-court matters, such as Vince's elbow injury, are secondary until we see whether the Nets are as active at the deadline as some insiders expect.
	19 (17)	Knicks	21-29	Dream Week? We're guessing that's not what the Knicks were calling it. Not after Kobe, LeBron and the Celts rolled into MSG back-to-back-to-back and let out all the steam built up by New York's recent 8-3 surge.
	20 (16)	Bobcats	19-31	The Bobs might be 0-5 since beating the Lakers in L.A., but Saturday was a fine day to trade Adam Morrison. Amid all that A-Rod coverage, almost no one noticed how little MJ got back for his first big Charlotte draft pick.
	21 (26)	Thunder	13-38	Leave it to us to spoil the moment and fixate on the downside of OKC's 9-9 record -- with six of those losses by four points or less -- in 2009: Winning the rights to Blake Griffin in the lottery gets tougher with every W.
	22 (24)	Warriors	17-35	The optimist would say that the Dubs are two buzzer-beaters and two OT losses away from a 10-0 run at home. The realist would say that the Dubs just lost their one constant (Biedrins) in a season of non-stop injury woe.
	23 (20)	Timberwolves	17-33	The McHale-as-coach honeymoon might be over: Minnesota has dropped six of seven since its 10-2 start to 2009 ... and Al Jefferson had to be helped off the floor in New Orleans after saying he felt his knee pop.
	24 (19)	Pacers	20-32	You tell us, Pacer People. Are you OK with Granger -- knowing that Dunleavy just went down again -- saying that there's "no chance" he'll skip All-Star Weekend? "I'll hobble through that game if I have to," Danny says.
	25 (21)	Bucks	24-29	It's been that kind of 2009 in Brewtown: After Redd and Bogut go down with long-term injuries, Ridnour joins them within minutes of the Bucks agreeing to trade his potential replacement (Tyronn Lue) to Orlando.
	26 (25)	Raptors	19-34	We don't want to say that our Raps are hard on the eyes when Bosh is out, but we also can't ignore the fact that their 78-70 loss to Memphis was the first time all season that two teams failed to combine for 150 points.
	27 (30)	Clippers	12-39	How many times has a team 25 games or more below .500 won back-to-back games on the road by 20 or more points? The answer was never until the Clips just came out of nowhere to blitz Memphis and Atlanta.
	28 (29)	Grizzlies	14-36	After losing 12 straight under three different coaches -- its longest skid since losing 13 in a row to start the 2002-03 season -- Memphis is 3-1 in February and hoping the authorities cancel the All-Star break.
	29 (28)	Wizards	11-40	On the list of unwanted milestones, this one has to be up there: With a nationally televised home defeat to Denver, Washington became the first team this season to surpass its loss total for the entire 2007-08 season.
	30 (27)	Kings	11-41	Love seeing two of our old faves -- Webber on Friday, Divac in March -- have their jerseys retired. Sad to see that it pretty much takes a jersey-hanging ceremony to fill up what used to be the NBA's loudest building.