Celtics Take a Fall in New NBA Power Rankings

Courtney Tate | 3 Hours Ago

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The NBA made some changes this week to the NBA Power Rankings listing the Boston Celtics at No. 3 and the Oklahoma City Thunder freshly sitting atop of the list at No. 1.

The Celtics continue taking care of business in the East most recently charging through the Detroit Pistons and the Washington Wizards. Payton Pritchard had a standout performance against the Pistons scoring 27 points while Jayson Tatum put the team on his back against the Wizards, scoring 28 points with 12 rebounds.

While Boston still currently sits comfortably at the No. 2 spot in the NBA Eastern Conference, the team fell down the Power Rankings for the week being replaced as the league's second-best ranked team.

A major reason for Boston’s drop down to the third spot is largely in part due to the success of the Oklahoma City Thunder in recent matchups. OKC is having a record setting season defensively, while continuing to boast the best record in the Western Conference.

The Thunder are on a five consecutive-game win streak having advanced to the championship round of the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup. Defensively, this team is holding their opponents to 9.4 fewer points per 100 possessions. The next best team to have even come close is the 2003-04 San Antonio Spurs, who allowed 8.3 fewer points.

To go alongside the success of the Thunder, analysts are concerned about the health of the Boston Celtics. Boston has played just one game this season when all six of their top guys were cleared to play.

During Thursday’s matchup against Detroit, the Celtics were without Tatum, who was dealing with a nagging knee injury. During Sunday’s matchup against the Wizards, Boston was already missing Al Horford due to the team’s rest protocols, when Kristaps Porzingis exited early with a foot injury.

The Celtics have a home game coming up against the Chicago Bulls, and then they hit the road for a huge test against the Orlando Magic. As of now the status of Porzingis is unclear ahead of Thursday’s matchup, but fortunately for Boston fans, Porzingis doesn’t feel like this is a major injury.

“I banged my heel a little bit in the first quarter and I kept on playing,” Porzingis said after the matchup against Washington. “It was nothing major, honestly. More like a precautionary thing. It was pretty sensitive. I told them the medical staff, and they just pulled me out of the game. I don’t think it’s anything major.”

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