Power Rankings: The commissioner's dream

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Your bouncy 26-week ride with the NBA Power Rankings is rolling to a stop.

It's been your ritual for 24 straight regular-season Mondays -- and twice before that during training camp -- to click here for a human, subjective and thoroughly nonautomated check of the NBA's team-by-team pulse. The committee (of one) can reveal that it's in the planning stages on a summer rankings surprise, but you'll otherwise have to wait until late September for our next batch.

So we say farewell for now with the top two of David Stern's dreams: Boston as a slam dunk choice for our season-ending No. 1 and the Celts' old friends from Hollywood -- Kobe Bryant's surging Los Angeles Lakers -- right behind them as the likely winners of the tightest conference race in history.

Other closing developments of note: San Antonio slips to a hard-to-fathom No. 8 given the fresh concerns about Manu Ginobili's health entering the playoffs, Denver jumps from No. 13 to No. 9 after reclaiming pole position in the sprint to seize the West's final postseason berth, Golden State drops from No. 10 to No. 14 as punishment for handing control back to the Nuggets … and who else but Miami could occupy the No. 30 dungeon after the steepest fall from grace we've ever seen from a recent champion?

You can rank the teams yourself or click here or at the bottom to register your approval or disagreement with the order at the top or anywhere else.

Tune into "NBA Fastbreak" on ESPN to see this week's Army Power Rankings.

2007-08 Power Rankings: Week 24
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Celtics	64-16	The Celts started and finished as the team of the season and open the postseason as the consensus Team To Beat. So where else could we put them? Boston's last 60-win team was its last title team in 1985-86.
	2 (4)	Lakers	56-25	Let the record show that the committee's MVP vote for Kobe was posted online before L.A.'s weekend victories over the Hornets and Spurs. One more win now should clinch Kobe's MVP trophy and the West's top seed.
	3 (3)	Pistons	57-23	The team that lives to be dissed enters the playoffs generating zero hoopla. Now let's see if the Pistons can use that as a spark and become the first club to go to six straight conference finals since the 1982-89 Lakers.
	4 (6)	Jazz	53-27	People tend forget what a difference that Korver trade made. Utah's new sharpshooter hasn't started a single game, but check the Jazz out since the deal: 11-10 on the road and 26-2 when Korver scores at least 10 points.
	5 (2)	Hornets	55-25	It's still a season for the ages for Paul even if he isn't the MVP or the Hornets fall short of No. 1 in the West. Because of CP3, Nash is the first PG since Magic in 1990-91 to average 11 assists and not lead the league.
	6 (8)	Rockets	54-26	Anyone else out there notice that the Yao-less team that every other club in the West wants to face in the first round of the playoffs can still finish seeded No. 1 if everything goes Houston's way? We're just saying ...
	7 (7)	Suns	53-27	For all the progress they've made since that 3-6 start with Shaq -- with a 13-5 recovery since -- it's looking as though the Suns will be the West's No. 6 seed. Only three teams have ever reached the Finals from No. 6 or lower.
	8 (5)	Spurs	54-26	The champs are the first team to post nine straight 50-win seasons since the Lakers from '79-80 through '90-91. But they won't repeat this time, either, if Manu's groin doesn't rally. They can barely score without him.
	9 (13)	Nuggets	49-32	The Nuggets need to beat Memphis on Wednesday to clinch a playoff berth. The Grizzlies have won one game in 17 previous trips to the Pepsi Center. The Warriors will not want to read those last two sentences.
	10 (9)	Mavericks	50-31	Just when they were starting to feel good about things -- Avery says 50 wins this season feels a bit like 60 under normal conditions -- losses at Portland and Seattle could send the Mavs to the playoffs as a (gulp) No. 8 seed.
	11 (12)	Magic	50-30	Dwight Howard's dominant fourth season reminds you a little bit of Shaq's fourth season. Except that Shaq's career in Orlando ended after magical season No. 4 ... while Howard is under contract with the Magic through 2012.
	12 (15)	Wizards	42-38	It's too late for Arenas to crash the Sixth Man Award race, but those three wins over Boston -- coupled with Gil, Butler and Jamison all finding their health at the right time -- have the Celts pretty freaked. The Cavs, too.
	13 (11)	76ers	40-40	In New York, Isiah Thomas' contract extension doomed the Knicks. In Philly? The Sixers were seven games under .500, at 24-31, when Mo Cheeks got his extension ... and then they became a playoff team again.
	14 (10)	Warriors	48-32	Denver gave Golden State new life with those losses to Sacramento and Seattle, only for the Dubs to give it all back when they couldn't beat the Nuggets at home. So don't blame Golden State's plight all on that 0-6 start.
	15 (16)	Cavaliers	44-36	The big question here used to be: How can the Cavs beat Boston and Detroit to get back to the Finals? Now: Is LeBron's back sturdy enough to get the Cavs -- just 14-12 since the big trade -- out of the first round?
	16 (17)	Kings	38-42	We repeat: It happens every season and this season it happened to the Kings. They're the scrappy team out West that gets to hear every day how it would be a playoff team for sure if it could switch to the East.
	17 (19)	Trail Blazers	40-40	Pretty rosy season when you add it all up, with another lottery pick on the way after Portland countered Oden's surgery with a 13-game win streak and then avoided a losing record as the third-youngest team in history.
	18 (14)	Hawks	37-43	Doesn't matter how low they're finishing here. Doesn't matter that they'd be a game out of 11th in the West. Doesn't matter that they're going to be swept by Boston. For at least the rest of the week, Hawks Pride is soaring.
	19 (18)	Raptors	40-40	Colangelo is ''disappointed.'' Bosh is annoyed because people keep asking him if he's ''frustrated.'' Yet somehow slumping Toronto remains in prime position to see Orlando in Round 1, as the Raps have been hoping for.
	20 (20)	Pacers	35-45	Indy awoke Monday morning with faint mathematical hope of stealing the No. 8 seed from those similarly sub-.500 Hawks. Realistically, though, Saturday's indefensible home defeat to Charlotte ended that dream.
	21 (23)	Bobcats	31-49	Our good friend Sam Smith came up with this one in his final Power Rankings at the Chicago Trib: Now we wait to see if Sam Vincent joins Scott Skiles on the list of Michigan State greats to be axed this season.
	22 (21)	Nets	33-47	The Nets were the East's last No. 1 seed to make it all the way to the NBA Finals ... in 2002. But what's left of those Nets won't even be able to make that claim any more if the Celts do what they're supposed to do.
	23 (22)	Bulls	31-49	The Bulls didn't turn into a D-League team like Miami, but finishing the season in tank mode to improve their lottery odds was a similarly steep and sinful fall considering that Chicago was a trendy pick to win the East.
	24 (29)	Bucks	26-54	A 7-4 start and three wins against Cleveland. Those were the lone highlights of a miserable campaign until Bill Simmons' unexpected candidacy and the ultimate hire of John Hammond as GM finally restored some hope.
	25 (28)	Knicks	23-57	It might be recorded as the only positive achievement of Isiah's tenure -- and we're seriously testing the bounds of positivity to bill it as such -- but this will not be the first Knicks team ever to lose 60 games. Barely.
	26 (24)	Grizzlies	22-58	Can't tell if the Grizz will ever be forgiven for gift-wrapping Pau to the Lakers. But how they're viewed in their own town would certainly change drastically if they somehow end up with Derrick Rose on draft night.
	27 (27)	SuperSonics	19-62	The past two Sundays in Seattle, with wins over Denver and Dallas, were undeniably spectacular. Yet you can't duck the feeling that the Sonics are indeed gone and just said farewell with the club's first 60-loss season.
	28 (26)	Timberwolves	21-59	The Wolves need a 2-0 finish to avoid their first 60-loss season since going 21-61 in 1994-95. Just curious: How many guesses did you need to remember that 1994-95 was the Wolves' last season without KG?
	29 (25)	Clippers	23-57	It's the last Clips comment of a forgettable season ... so we're using this space to remind the world that last Tuesday was the 30-year anniversary of my beloved Braves' final game in Buffalo before becoming the Clips.
	30 (30)	Heat	14-66	This won't officially be recorded as the Heat's worst season unless they lose their remaining two games. But good luck trying to convince Pat Riley even if Miami shocks the world with its own scorching 2-0 finish.