Power Rankings: Celtics stay on top, Lakers fall

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By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

NBA

When the Boston Celtics reclaimed the top spot in ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings last Monday, there were still two teams in the league that they hadn't beaten this season.

There are now zero teams they haven't beaten.

The Celts recovered from a rare home blip against Philadelphia to beat Phoenix and New Orleans back-to-back and avenge recent road losses to the Suns and Hornets. That impressive double score comfortably kept Boston at No. 1; the Hornets are impossible to place lower than No. 2, and three traditional powers -- Detroit, Phoenix and San Antonio -- fill out a new-look top five that no longer includes the wasteful Lakers and Jazz.

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 22
RANK (LAST WK) TEAM REC. COMMENT
1 (1) Celtics 58-15 In tribute to the league's undisputed No. 1, one thing Shaq said last week can be accepted by everyone: "Back when they had those teams with Rick Fox and 'Nique, they were only Sort Of Boston. Now it's Boston Boston."
2 (2) Hornets 50-22 Since they were inexplicably swept for the season by Washington on March 2, Paul and his Hornets are a mere 11-3 ... and the only losses were at Boston, at Detroit and at Houston during the Rockets' 22-game win streak.
3 (7) Pistons 52-21 The East's only unbashable team this millennium? That's a defendable description for the Pistons, who secured their seventh consecutive 50-win season last week, second only to San Antonio's nine in a row.
4 (3) Suns 49-24 As nicely as things are rolling now -- see Shaq's impact on the suddenly can't-be-guarded Amare for starters -- Phoenix never expected to have a shot at taking first place in the Pacific back from the Lakers. But it does.
5 (8) Spurs 51-23 Stunning as it was to see the Spurs' annual second-half surge interrupted by a 1-6 slide, check out the champs now. During a seven-game win streak against mostly inferior teams, they became the West's first 50-win team.
6 (4) Lakers 50-24 Did we speak too soon? Could back-to-back home Ls to Charlotte and Memphis cost Kobe his first MVP trophy? Is the division slipping away? Just add those to list of injury questions about Pau, Bynum and now Fisher.
7 (6) Rockets 49-24 When is the second-longest winning streak in NBA history not long enough? When you go 3-4 after winning 22 in a row and play six of your final nine games on the road, all while knowing Yao isn't coming back.
8 (5) Jazz 48-26 The Jazz have to live with the knowledge that they're the only team in the league to lose road games to Minnesota (twice), New York and Miami this season. Had they won those four games, they'd be leading the West.
9 (11) Nuggets 45-28 The Nuggets were the consensus favorite to finish last in a nine-team race for the West's eight playoff spots. Then they swept their two rivals for No. 8 (Dallas and Golden State) at home. Team of the Week, methinks.
10 (9) Warriors 45-28 How fine is the line in the West? The Warriors could detonate Dallas even before the playoffs this time ... or the most famous No. 8 seed ever could make the transformation to best non-playoff team in league history.
11 (10) Magic 47-27 The Magic had only two games last week and play only once between now and Saturday. It's a strangely light load that actually comes at a great time for the irreplaceable Hedo Turkoglu to shake that new wrist injury.
12 (12) 76ers 37-37 On Feb. 5, Philly was 11th in the East with a mark of 18-30. So it'll be no joke this April 1 to say that Mo Cheeks has given the East its third Coach of the Year candidate (along with Doc Rivers and Stan Van Gundy).
13 (13) Wizards 38-35 Splashy numbers everywhere you look when it comes to Caron Butler. The Wiz are 7-3 since their rugged forward returned, and Butler has three triple-doubles this season, exceeded only by J-Kidd (12) and LeBron (7).
14 (15) Cavaliers 41-33 Banged up (Big Ben, most notably) and beaten often on the road lately (1-7 in March), LeBron and Co. have to settle for holding on to No. 4 in the East (and home-court advantage in Round 1). Orlando's out of reach.
15 (14) Mavericks 45-28 The Mavs must win five of their final nine games if they want to record an eighth straight 50-win season. And even that might not be enough to prevent Dallas from earning a lottery pick for the first time since 2000.
16 (17) Raptors 37-36 Dropping Detroit on Wednesday was only the Raps' biggest W all season. Kept them from going under .500 for the first time since Nov. 20 and was their first W over a playoff-bound team since beating Orlando on Feb. 20.
17 (18) Hawks 33-40 Mike Woodson's job might still be in jeopardy, as is the league's longest playoff drought. Amid rumblings of locker-room disarray since word leaked that Billy Knight tried multiple times to fire Woody, Atlanta just went 7-2.
18 (16) Trail Blazers 38-36 Roy is injured anew, Oden just took a foolish risk in a pickup game and since Jan. 19, the Blazers have only two wins over teams with a winning record. Not exactly a fairy-tale finish for the first-half Cinderellas, huh?
19 (19) Kings 33-40 The Kings obviously can't finish .500, even with six of their final nine games at home, because they're not going 8-1. But can they finish with more wins than the East's final playoff team? Sounds like a reasonable goal.
20 (20) Pacers 30-43 Make that six 30-point games since the All-Star break for Dunleavy Jr., whose Pacers have a far friendlier remaining schedule than New Jersey or Chicago ... if you're following Atlanta's bid to cling to No. 8 in the East.
21 (21) Nets 31-43 About the only thing going right for Dallas is that the Nets' deficit in the East's "race" for No. 8 is growing. Imagine if J-Kidd's Mavs missed the playoffs and Jersey squeaked in. "It would be comical," Devin Harris says.
22 (26) Bobcats 28-45 The Bobs have actually coped better with their road-heavy schedule in the second half (12-20 so far) than the committee (of one) was expecting. But that only reminds us how wasteful they were (16-25) in the first half.
23 (22) Bulls 29-44 It's probably an exaggeration to say that it might be easier to draw up a list of the Bulls players who haven't clashed this season with the new coach (Boylan) or the old coach (Skiles). But only a slight exaggeration.
24 (23) Timberwolves 19-53 Wittman's right: Jefferson has to be included in the Most Improved Player debate. There was no guarantee, with so little help, that Big Al would be doing so much with his increased opportunity and responsibility in Minny.
25 (25) Grizzlies 19-54 The other four teams in the division are playoff-bound. The other team in their building is going to the Final Four. But the heavy blame rookie coach Marc Iavaroni is getting for his undermanned team's plight doesn't add up.
26 (27) Clippers 22-51 An interview with Elton Brand is coming in the next Weekend Dime, but as a preview we can share now that EB really isn't interested in hearing any of that safety-first stuff. He sees playing at least a few games as a must.
27 (24) Bucks 24-48 Surely you're not surprised that Doug Collins doesn't want to leave the comforts of the TNT booth to try to fix this mess. How bad is it? Lowly Miami has only two wins since Feb. 29 ... both of them against the Bucks.
28 (28) SuperSonics 17-57 A win over Portland to split the season series with their regional rivals, followed by Durant's first 30-point game since December. That's really about as much as these Sonics can give their fans as doomsday nears.
29 (29) Knicks 20-53 We're eternal optimists here at Stein Line HQ. So we're going to focus on the promise of a new era that beckons in the front office as opposed to the likelihood that the Knicks will lose 60 games for the first time in club history.
30 (30) Heat 13-60 Anyone else wish TNT devoted more time to the Miami-Detroit highlights Thursday? With Kasib Powell, Stephane Lasme and Blake Ahearn on the floor for the Heat, that game was a Who He Play For? segment waiting to happen.

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