Power Rankings: Rockets take over the top spot

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By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

NBA

The Boston Celtics' impressive dusting of their chief rivals normally would have lifted them back into the top spot in our weekly NBA Power Rankings.

But normal doesn't apply much these days, thanks largely to the Houston Rockets.

Eighteen consecutive victories. Six straight since Yao Ming was lost for the season. A league-record nine straight wins by a double-digit margin.

The Celtics made an undeniable statement Wednesday with their win over Detroit, but the Rockets -- 27-3 since a Jan. 2 loss in Boston -- have clearly earned their first boost to No. 1 from ESPN.com since the committee (of one) assumed stewardship of these rankings starting in the 2002-03 season.

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

2007-08 Power Rankings: Week 19
RANK (LAST WK) TEAM REC. COMMENT
1 (5) Rockets 42-20 So what was Houston's problem pre-streak? Guys like Hollinger and Bucher talking them up, apparently. Says our man Battier: "When you have everyone ... telling you how great you are, it makes your job tougher."
2 (3) Celtics 49-12 The Pistons and Cavs have kept up much better since we moved into 2008, but Boston still owns the East's best record from Jan. 1 forward. The Celts are 23-9 since the turn of the year, with Detroit and Cleveland at 22-10.
3 (2) Lakers 44-19 The Lakers have lost more games since we bumped them up to the top spot on Feb. 25 -- two -- than they dropped in the first three-plus weeks of February. You don't think we're the ones who jinxed them, do you?
4 (6) Jazz 42-22 The Raptors on March 17 and the Lakers on TNT on March 20. Only those two opponents stand in the way of this Jazz, unbeaten at home in 2008, establishing a new club record for consecutive home wins at 20.
5 (1) Spurs 43-19 A comforting thought for the champs after disheartening road losses to the Nuggets and Suns: San Antonio's chief rivals in Phoenix and Dallas certainly didn't get any younger with their big trades for Shaq and Kidd.
6 (4) Pistons 46-17 We're sticking to our story: Detroit would rather finish with the No. 2 seed in the East -- which means playing a potential Game 7 in Boston -- if the seedings stay this way and the Celts end up facing LeBron in Round 2.
7 (8) Hornets 42-20 How did the Hornets earn the unwanted distinction of ranking last on our list of most favorable remaining schedules for the West's top nine? This week didn't help: Spurs and Lakers at home, followed by a visit to Detroit.
8 (10) Suns 41-22 Doesn't The Diesel deserve the floor after Sunday's show? Says Shaq: ''Things haven't been great [so far], but ... now we just have to package it and play like this every game. It'll come. I'm not worried. You worried?''
9 (7) Mavericks 40-23 The greatest Maverick in team history? I'm guessing you already figured out that Nowitzki didn't really need to break Ro Blackman's franchise scoring record Saturday night to secure this committee's vote. Right?
10 (12) Warriors 39-23 Yet another measure of how insanely good the West is: In spite of that dreadful 0-6 start, Golden State is 12 games ahead of last season's 27-35 pace after 62 games. And straining to hold on to the No. 8 seed.
11 (14) Nuggets 37-25 Why so tough for Denver to gain any ground after two big wins? It didn't help that Cassell chose Boston. Or that Ty Lue chose Dallas. Or that the Warriors went 4-2 without Biedrins. Or that Houston is 6-0 sans Yao.
12 (9) Cavaliers 36-27 We are indeed going to bring this up again because it got so little coverage when he mentioned it and because we're hearing that it's 100 percent true: LeBron (yikes) says he has grown an inch and 20 pounds to 6-9, 260.
13 (10) Magic 40-24 Riding a 51-win pace, D-Howard wants more: ''When they start talking about the Eastern Conference [on TV], all I keep hearing about are the Celtics, the Pistons, even the Cavaliers. I want to change that.''
14 (15) 76ers 30-33 We keep repeating this because we still can't believe it: Iverson's old team in Philly seems more likely to make the playoffs than Iverson's new team in Denver. Which is amazing even when you account for the East factor.
15 (13) Trail Blazers 33-30 Although we can't share Aldridge's view that the Blazers aren't "out of the playoffs yet,'' there's no disputing that they still have some Cinderella in them, surpassing last season's win total with 19 games to go.
16 (16) Raptors 34-28 Bosh is still out with a knee problem, but things could be much worse. Toronto's 45-win pace would place the Raptors only 10th in the West, where eight teams are on pace for 50 wins and Denver is on a 49-33 track.
17 (17) Kings 28-35 The Kings nearly became the first team all season to lose to Miami twice. Then they did lose in OT on the road to the Clips and at home (gulp) to Minny. So, no, we sure didn't see that road win over the Lakers coming.
18 (18) Wizards 30-32 It's probably too late for a run at the fourth or fifth seed, even if Butler or Arenas is back soon. Holding on to No. 6, however, is a real priority if that definitely means Orlando instead of Cleveland in the first round.
19 (19) Hawks 26-36 This doesn't quite count as the sort of playoff push that can improve shaky job security: Woodson's Hawks won those two games in a historic doubleheader against Miami but are otherwise 3-12 in the last month-plus.
20 (21) Bulls 25-38 Not sure which of the latest Bulls developments is more out of line: Aaron Gray (who?) snapping at his coach when Boylan pulled him from a game or Noah saying of the Pistons: ''I still think we are better than them, really.''
21 (28) Bobcats 24-39 Almost no one knows about it, thanks to the Rockets -- and it likely can't last with nine of their 11 remaining games this month on the road -- but the Bobs are 5-0 in March, all without injured Gerald Wallace.
22 (20) Nets 26-37 The past two seasons saw New Jersey close fast, with a 17-5 finish in '05-06, then a late run of 12-3 in '06-07. These, though, are obviously different times. Jefferson is the only player left from the Nets' 2003 Finals team.
23 (24) Clippers 20-41 A week after being snubbed by Flip Murray, who went to Indy after saying he was L.A.-bound, it had to hearten the Clips to hear free agent-to-be Elton Brand say that he's ''not one to just up and leave a situation.''
24 (22) Pacers 24-39 Indy hasn't been over .500 since the day after Christmas in another season filled with off-court issues. One small consolation: Dunleavy has six 30-point games this season ... for a career total of seven.
25 (23) Bucks 23-40 In its first five games after the All-Star break, Milwaukee beat Detroit, Denver and Cleveland and nearly beat San Antonio on the road. But the revival didn't last and the Bucks just lost Yi to his first serious injury.
26 (27) Timberwolves 14-48 Two road victories in a single week? Want to know how many times that happened for these Wolves before last week? The hunch here is that you didn't need more than one guess to know that the answer is zero.
27 (26) SuperSonics 16-47 Give it up to the soon-to-be rookie of the year: Durant just restricted himself to hoisting a mere seven 3-point attempts over a span of 10 games after hearing negative reviews of his shot selection all season.
28 (29) Heat 11-50 News flash: D-Wade insists he's committed to the Heat long term. So it's a happy week for Riles, even if Wade is now done for the season after the historic doubleheader (and two more losses) in Atlanta.
29 (25) Knicks 18-45 The latest from the land of ''evident progress'' finds Curry facing the prospect of knee surgery and Isiah's record at 22-60 in a full season's worth of games since receiving his contract extension last March 12.
30 (30) Grizzlies 14-45 Grizzlies bashing has reached the point that even the prime beneficiary of the Pau deal couldn't resist. Yup: Even Kobe recently described Michael Heisley's willingness to part with Gasol for so little as ''grand larceny.''

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