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Holy Pau!

The Los Angeles Lakers have played only one home game since acquiring Pau Gasol -- and zero games in that span with Andrew Bynum -- but are a scorching 9-1 with their new Spaniard. So we humbly retract last week's suggestion that Kobe Bryant's mangled pinkie demanded a drop to No. 5 and duly lift the Lakers into the top spot of ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings for the first time since late in the 2003-04 season … Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal's last season together as teammates.

Detroit and Boston monopolized the top two spots in the rankings for seven of the past nine weeks, but the hottest teams in the league -- Houston, Utah, New Orleans and San Antonio along with the Lakers -- are suddenly all in the West.

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 17
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (5)	Lakers	39-17	If our new BFFs from The Onion thought it was gutsy a few weeks back when we moved the Lakers from No. 4 to No. 3, what will they say when they see our mea culpa promotion of Kobe and Co. from No. 5 to No. 1?
	2 (1)	Pistons	41-15	Sunday's clinic in Phoenix almost made you forget dreadful Ls to Orlando and Milwaukee coming out of the break and gave Detroit the rare privilege of being the second straight team to hold the Suns under 90 points.
	3 (8)	Spurs	37-17	We're not quite sure how you say "snubbed" in Argentinean, but Manu sure seems intent on making West coaches and pundits nationwide feel foolish for leaving him off their real (and pretend) All-Star reserve ballots.
	4 (2)	Celtics	42-12	This will be moot if the Celts wind up with Cassell or Barry via buyout, but for now they're the only team in the league -- of the 15 sporting winning records -- not to have made a notable in-season signing or trade.
	5 (9)	Rockets	36-20	The Rockets are two home W's away from a perfect February. And I'm sure they'll apologize for the fact that they've faced only four winning teams in an 11-0 month as soon as they get higher than seventh in the West.
	6 (3)	Jazz	36-20	We can update the Korver Effect every single Monday if it suits you -- Utah is now 20-4 since the trade -- but the 114 points allowed by the Jazz in a Friday road loss to the Clips remind us that their D is still suspect.
	7 (4)	Hornets	37-17	Expecting the Hornets to fade yet again? It's true that New Orleans does close with 14 of its final 21 games on the road. Just don't forget that these guys, still the NBA's best away team at 19-8, might actually like that.
	8 (7)	Mavericks	37-19	The first thing that changed upon Kidd's (complicated) return? The regular season is suddenly a must-watch again in Mavsland, whereas they could have gone 75-7 before the trade and impressed pretty much no one.
	9 (6)	Suns	38-18	Two big gulps for the Big Cactus: Shaq had never lost his debut with an NBA team before Kobe's Lakers became just the second team ever to score 30 points or more in every quarter against one of Shaq's teams.
	10 (13)	Cavaliers	32-24	The big question facing the Cavs hasn't changed: Can they beat Detroit and Boston to get back to the Finals? On the flip side, those teams will be even more eager to avoid Cleveland in Round 2 after the big trade.
	11 (12)	Magic	36-22	Something to keep in mind just in case Orlando slips to fourth and winds up playing Toronto in the East's opening round: Howard and the Magic are an underwhelming 3-8 lifetime in games against Bosh and the Raptors.
	12 (10)	Warriors	33-22	Considering Nellie's long-standing reluctance to play rookies, this quote is almost (we said almost) as surprising as the not-quite-clicking Webber signing: "Maybe we should start looking at [Brandan Wright]."
	13 (14)	Raptors	30-24	Hearty thanks to Bosh for the most flawless 40-point game (14-for-16 on FGs, 11-for-11 on FTs) on record since Ced Ceballos went 14-for-15 and 12-for-12 in '93. You know we're always giddy when we can bring up Ced.
	14 (11)	Nuggets	33-22	Is the Nuggets' decision not to gamble on Artest already backfiring? Since the non-trade, Denver has followed up its uplifting home W over Boston with defenseless defeats on the road to struggling Chicago and Milwaukee.
	15 (18)	Kings	26-29	The debate about keeping or parting with Ron-Ron is on hold for a few months now. The focus from here is whether the best sub-.500 team in the league and its rookie coach can wind up as the West's 11th winning team.
	16 (17)	76ers	25-32	They'll be playing for a playoff berth in the season's final third and Iverson's long-awaited return to Philly is March 19. Who'd have ever thunk that the 76ers would be so relevant at this juncture of the season?
	17 (16)	Trail Blazers	29-27	Making the playoffs, finishing over .500, Oden busting out a Mohawk . . . they've all been relegated to secondary concerns for the Blazers until they can confirm that Roy's new ankle problem is nothing serious.
	18 (15)	Hawks	22-31	The good news: Bibby hasn't missed any time for his new team since getting hurt in his Hawks debut. The bad news: Bibby couldn't have been handed a much harder start than Atlanta's five-game trip out West.
	19 (19)	Nets	25-31	If you're wondering how much longer you have to wait to see Devin Harris as a Net, circle March 8. Assume he'll be back by then at the latest with the Nets scheduled to be in Dallas that night against a certain J-Kidd.
	20 (21)	Bulls	22-33	Latest indictment of the "race" for No. 8 in the East: Chicago hasn't won back-to-back games since the end of December, can't even claim to sport a winning record at home (12-14) and sits just two games behind Philly.
	21 (20)	Wizards	26-29	Arenas still isn't sure when he can come back. Butler was supposed to return after the All-Star break and still hasn't. But this is the Least, so the Wiz remain No. 6 in spite of their injury crisis and corresponding 2-10 slide.
	22 (23)	Clippers	19-34	Maggette is still a Clipper and so, for the moment, is Cassell. Yet once Sam I Am's status is resolved, chances are we'll be back to relying on Kaman's double-doubles to fill this space . . . until Elton makes his comeback.
	23 (22)	Pacers	22-34	I suppose we can pretend that the Pacers are also still in that East "race" for No. 8. The safer guess is that the only real news coming out of Indy from here will be whether Jermaine O'Neal plays again this season.
	24 (28)	Bucks	21-35	Still can't believe that the Bucks had multiple chances to shed the contracts of Simmons and Gadzuric in a deal for Zach Randolph and got shot down every time by owner Herb Kohl. On second thought, I can believe it.
	25 (27)	SuperSonics	15-40	A second-round NCAA Tournament exit couldn't have been fun. But you have to believe this March will be the longest of Durant's career, with trade season over and nothing but dog days in his immediate future.
	26 (25)	Knicks	17-39	One more 40-point loss to follow up Wednesday's in Philly and Isiah's Knicks will have three this season to break an unwanted franchise record. The Knicks of 1962-63 and 1971-72 each absorbed two such humiliations.
	27 (26)	Timberwolves	11-43	It might be the most intrigue we get from the Wolves until the draft: Antoine Walker is a natural buyout candidate before Saturday's deadline for playoff eligibility but says he's reluctant "to give up a lot of money."
	28 (24)	Bobcats	19-37	The flurry of big trades has folks like Shaq and Phil Jackson comparing the suddenly crucial final third of the schedule to a "college season." In truth, it's probably always felt that way in North Carolina for the Bobcats.
	29 (29)	Grizzlies	14-42	Rumblings persist that the Grizz refused to trade Mike Miller because they're gun-shy after the negative response to their Gasol trade. Assuming that's true, at least folks are apparently still talking about them.
	30 (30)	Heat	9-44	Jeff Van Gundy spoke for a lot of us Sunday on ABC when he wondered how Riles and D-Wade, no matter what's around them, could have just one win in Miami's past 27 games. "It's mind-boggling to me," JVG said.