Where do Jay’s Nets rank?

You can blame this one on Dime’s Associate Publisher, Justin Leonard, who was bumping Jay-Z in the office when we sat down to crank out this latest NBA Hit List power ranking…

30. Miami Heat (8-32) — “99 Problems” (The Black Album). The rest of this month’s schedule brings the Spurs, Pacers, Celtics and Magic, meaning the Heat could easily go 0-for-January. Don’t blame D-Wade, though: he’s averaging 26 points and almost 7 dimes a night this month while shooting a more than respectable 46 percent.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (6-34) — “Soon You’ll Understand” (The Dynasty: Roc La Familia). It’s not all bad in Minnesota. They’ve got a good talent base with Jefferson, McCants, Gomes, Brewer, Foye (whenever he gets healthy), Craig Smith and Bassy. You could even throw Marko Jaric in there. A few months ago you would have put Gerald Green in that group, but not anymore.

28. Seattle Supersonics (9-32) — “Regrets” (Reasonable Doubt). One win in their past 14 games, and that win came against the Wolves. When Kevin Durant is by himself, does part of him ever wish he’d stayed on more year at Texas and taken his chances of getting to play with D-Wade and Pat Riley next year?

27. Memphis Grizzlies (12-29) — “As One” (The Blueprint 2). In a rare national TV appearance on MLK Day, the Grizz played together and smacked the Bulls. Mike Conley had his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 dimes.

26. Los Angeles Clippers (12-25) — “Get This Money” (The Best of Both Worlds). Remember Corey Maggette? With all the talk about Chris Kaman, it’s been easy to forget about him. Maggette’s led the Clips in scoring each of the last three games, including a 31-point effort against the Nets. Beware: Corey (20.4 ppg) can opt out of his contract this summer and will likely be looking for a big payday.

25. New York Knicks (13-28) — “It’s Like That” (Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life). Nate Robinson’s response to getting left out of the dunk contest? He turns in one of the Dunks of the Year against Miami, then throws down a rare two-hander against Boston the next time out. And Nate’s been solid overall lately. He’s averaging 15.8 points and 4.4 assists in January, with only 1.3 turnovers per game.

24. Philadelphia 76ers (16-26) — “Coming of Age” (Reasonable Doubt). Thaddeus Young is starting to come around. This month he’s put together five double-digit scoring games this month, giving the Lakers 16 points and 9 boards and the Nuggets 11, 8 and three steals.

23. Milwaukee Bucks (16-26) — “Coming of Age [Da Sequel]” (Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life). Andrew Bogut’s scorching streak continues. He’s been almost a lock for 20 and 10 over the last three weeks; he pulled down 15 boards against the Hornets, blocked 4 shots against Atlanta, and had back-to-back 21-10 lines against Atlanta and Golden State.

22. Chicago Bulls (16-24) — “Dig a Hole” (Kingdom Come). Apparently the Pistons would not want to see Chicago in a playoff series. The problem is, the Bulls might have dug themselves too deep into the Lottery abyss to even get to the postseason.

21. Atlanta Hawks (17-20) — “All Around the World” (The Blueprint 2). Dropping three in a row is not a good way to go into a five-game West Coast road trip that starts Wednesday. Joe Johnson and Co. have to bounce back over a stretch that has them at Denver, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and the Clippers.

20. New Jersey Nets (18-23) — “Sunshine” (In My Lifetime, Vol. 1). In losing six straight, the Nets have found a small silver lining in the play of Josh Boone. He’s been good for close to double-double numbers lately.

19. Indiana Pacers (19-23) — “Fallin’” (American Gangster). With J.O. grounded for a while, will the Pacers slide out of the playoff picture? They’re currently teetering around that 8th-9th seed area.

18. Charlotte Bobcats (16-25) — “Show Me What You Got” (Kingdom Come). Was Emeka Okafor a draft-day mistake? You could argue that Nazr Mohammed (or Sean May) is Charlotte’s best low-post offensive player, and Emeka has been beasted by Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard (what else is new?) on defense recently. He did play Tim Duncan and Tyson Chandler pretty evenly, though.

17. Sacramento Kings (18-22) — “The Return” (Unfinished Business). Like we said in Smack over the weekend, Reggie Theus deserves major props for holding this operation together through all the injuries. Now that Mike Bibby and Kevin Martin are back, the Kings are rolling, having won six of its last eight.

16. Toronto Raptors (22-19) — “Bring It On” (Reasonable Doubt). Winners of five of their last seven, we’ll see where the Raptors are when they travel to Boston on Wednesday afternoon. Chris Bosh is killing, averaging 29 points and 10 boards in his last five, and the matchup with KG will be one to watch.

15. Washington Wizards (22-17) — “Can’t Knock the Hustle” (Reasonable Doubt). Last week we asked if the Wizards are really that good. After seeing them get popped in person at MSG, we were doubting. Maybe it was just a bad night, though. Washington came back and got revenge on the Knicks before handling the Mavs, and Wednesday’s game at Cleveland will tell us a lot.

14. Golden State Warriors (22-19) — “The Watcher 2″ The Blueprint 2). Did you see Monta Ellis get done up on that stutter-step cross by Sebastian Telfair the other day? Monta’s frozen feet and frozen facial expression personified Golden State’s defense this year.

13. Cleveland Cavaliers (22-18) — “Squeeze 1st” (The Dynasty: Roc La Familia). Don’t look now, but Damon Jones is on fire. While the Cavs have gone 8-1 in January, DJ has connected on 57 percent of his shots from the field and 61 percent from deep. He’s hit at least one triple in every game this month.

12. Orlando Magic (26-17) — “Breathe Easy” (The Blueprint). Bouncing back from a down stretch by knocking off the Blazers and Pistons, the Magic are back in this thing. We know now that they have two legit go-to scorers at the end of the game in Rashard and Hedo, plus one big guy who can clean up their misses.

11. Utah Jazz (24-18) — “Heart of the City [Ain’t No Love]” (The Blueprint). Don’t be surprised if Deron Williams get snubbed for the All-Star Game again. He’s averaging 19.3 points and 9.2 assists for a team that’s in the playoff picture, but there are a lot of Western Conference guards who have to get consideration: Kobe, Nash, Chris Paul, Iverson, Baron, Brandon Roy, Manu and Tony Parker among them.

10. Houston Rockets (22-19) — “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” (The Dynasty: Roc La Familia). Cue the critics: T-Mac is already saying he might skip the All-Star Game, and this came after he put up a cool 17 points, 6 boards and 5 dimes against Seattle, his second game back from his knee injury.

9. Denver Nuggets (24-16) — “D’Evils” (Reasonable Doubt). We’d seriously consider taking Marcus Camby over KG for Defensive POY when it’s all said and done. Camby is putting up 14.3 boards and 3.9 blocks per, with 16 games where he’s grabbed 15-plus rebounds, and 17 instances of 5-plus rejections.

8. Portland Trail Blazers (25-16) — “Say Hello” (American Gangster). Travis Outlaw has arrived. The Blazers are giving him the ball in crunch-time on the iso play that’s usually reserved for superstars, and he’s been delivering. Outlaw hit another game-winner against the Hawks on MLK Day.

7. San Antonio Spurs (26-13) — “Stick 2 the Script” (The Dynasty: Roc La Familia). Early in the season, we remember a Spurs broadcast where the announcers were talking about how Matt Bonner could be a guy to step into the Robert Horry role once Big Shot Rob retires. A few months later, Bonner is taking ill-advised game-winning attempts while Horry stands there open. That’s not what those announcers had in mind.

6. Detroit Pistons (29-13) — “Some People Hate” (The Blueprint 2). Now that Detroit’s lost four of its last five, keep an eye out for when everyone starts to blame Flip Saunders. You know how it goes here: When things go wrong it’s on Flip. When they’re going good, it’s everyone but Flip.

5. Los Angeles Lakers (27-12) — “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” (The Black Album). Kwame promised to get better after his national-TV meltdown against the Suns last week. He did OK for himself the next time out against the Nuggets, going for 7 points and 11 boards and helping limit Marcus Camby to a more-human 12 rebounds.

4. Dallas Mavericks (27-13) — “Friend or Foe” (Reasonable Doubt). What’s up with Jason Terry? He scores 25 against Sacramento while trading ice-water buckets with Kevin Martin one day, then scored just 4 points against the Wizards the next day. Jet started the season playing out of his mind, but he’s since cooled off.

3. New Orleans Hornets (28-12) — “Public Service Announcement” (The Black Album). In case you didn’t already know, David West is really good. He’s creeping up on 20-10, averaging 19.4 points and 9.4 boards, and his team has won 14 of its last 17 games. Is he an All-Star?

2. Phoenix Suns (30-12) — “Come and Get Me” (Vol. 3: The Life and Times of S. Carter). Nash, Amare, Matrix and the rest look poised to start running away from the rest of the pack. They’ve won four straight, disposing of the vulnerable Lakers, the inferior Wolves and Bucks, and the struggling Nets. And if they get a fresh Grant Hill back in time for the home stretch, watch out.

1. Boston Celtics (33-6) — “Roc Boys [And the Winner is…]” (American Gangster). A huge home win over the Blazers snapped Boston out of a mini-slump, followed by cracking Philly and New York. It seems like the Big Three are going to dominate in waves: Garnett was a monster at the beginning of the season, Ray is heating up right now, and Paul Pierce will probably drive the bus down the final stretch.