Updated: November 12, 2007, 11:24 AM ET

Power Rankings: Can defending champs hold off resurgent C's?

Week:
 
Team:
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

NBA
The committee (of one) can't lie. We were tempted.

We were tempted to catapult the Boston Celtics into the top spot for the first time since Paul Pierce got all that help, but we're not quite ready to drop the defending champs. Not when San Antonio has sliced through everyone except a team that could also make a case for No. 1: Houston.

On the off chance you have something to say about how tight it is up there, or anywhere else in ESPN.com's NBA Power Rankings, click here or at the bottom to comment.

• Rank them yourself!

2007-08 Power Rankings: Week 2
RANKTEAM / RECORD TRENDINGCOMMENTS
1
--

Last Week: 1		As if the West wasn't tight enough at the top, now this: Manu is playing as well as ever . . . and could end up third in Sixth Man voting with Dallas' scorching Terry and Phoenix's Barbosa (who just went for 39) around.
2
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Last Week: 2		No surprise, given the sporting mojo bubbling in Boston these days, that this is the NBA's last unbeaten team. No surprise, furthermore, that folks are already fretting about the minutes KG, Allen and Pierce are logging.
3
1
Last Week: 4		Congratulations again, Rockets. Your reward for winning the season's first matchup with the Spurs, come Friday, is a fun little three-game run: Game 1 in San Antonio, then home against Phoenix and Dallas back-to-back.
4
2
Last Week: 6		Nitpick the Suns' start if you want, but don't forget last season's 0-4 start on the road. This season? They opened with seven games in 10 nights and came through pretty well considering Amare missed part of it.
5
--

Last Week: 5		Both early losses were mild road surprises -- in Atlanta and Portland -- but the Mavs have answered one major question: Nowitzki is vowing to keep his hair long because "a couple [teammates] said my short hair jinxes us."
6
3
Last Week: 3		Wouldn't have expected Detroit to be the Bulls' first victim. Don't think the Pistons will dwell on it too much, though, when they've lost only once in the midst of opening the season with seven of nine games on the road.
7
Utah
5-2
5
Last Week: 12		Chris Paul might have seized the league's early assist lead at 11.1 apg, but D-Will is certainly keeping up his end of the rivalry. Utah's franchise PG is at 21.0 ppg and 10.4 apg, while shooting .520 ... and .480 on 3s.
8
--

Last Week: 8		Four victories in four road games. Zero losses to teams outside the top six in these very rankings. The Magic started 13-4 last season, but Stan Van Gundy's start looks even more promising. Doesn't it?
9
New Orleans
5-2
--

Last Week: 9		The Hornets matched last season's 4-0 start rather comfortably. To get to 8-3 -- last season's peak -- they'll need three wins in a four-game stretch featuring three road games: New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota.
10
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Last Week: 10		Odom is back and Kobe sure doesn't look distracted, averaging 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists. But we probably should note that the schedule has been helpful early. Check it out from now to Thanksgiving.
11
4
Last Week: 7		Apparently nobody does road blowouts better than the Raps, who followed up that early 37-point win in Jersey with Saturday's 30-pointer in Chicago. Realistically, though, how many more of those are in store?
12
5
Last Week: 17		Only one stop left on the LeBrons' six-game swing through the Western Conference ... but they might actually miss the road after wins over the Warriors, Kings and Clippers and a near-miss in Utah.
13
2
Last Week: 11		Looks as though you can delete the Nuggets from the list of clubs in crisis. Road wins at Washington and then Indy -- the latter despite trailing by 25 -- lifted them out of the Bulls-Heat-Wizards-Warriors doldrums.
14
New Jersey
4-2
4
Last Week: 18		Somebody doesn't want to be traded: After leading the Nets in scoring just five times last season in 55 games, Jefferson has done it six times in six games this season. Problem is, Vince is suddenly ailing anew.
15
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Last Week: 15		Maybe it's good karma that the banged-up Clips didn't make it to 5-0. Last time it happened, in '85-86, they finished 32-50. The club's only other 4-0 start -- actually my Buffalo Braves in '75-76 -- led to a 46-36 finish.
16
11
Last Week: 27		Team of the Week? You don't have to run TrueHoop to vote for the Blazers after they went 3-0 at home against strictly Southwest Division opposition, inflicting the Hornets' first loss and dumping mighty Dallas, too.
17
1
Last Week: 16		Losing Morrison and May to injury is one thing. Or even two things. But losing Felton is simply not an option for the Bobs ... as a 31-point loss at Philly in the game Felton sat out would suggest.
18
4
Last Week: 14		To be more than an opening-week Cinderella, Indy needs a healthy Marquis Daniels. It finished 2006-07 in a 6-23 tailspin after Daniels went down and he went to the sideline again during the Pacers' winless Week 2.
19
6
Last Week: 13		Why so low? The Hawks have already beaten Dallas and Phoenix, true, but they also celebrated the completion of a brutal five games to open the season by losing at home to winless Washington in Game 6.
20
1
Last Week: 21		The Bucks can probably live with their 0-4 start on the road when the last two losses were in Houston and San Antonio and when there are only two rookies out there scoring in double figures: Durant and a guy named Yi.
21
2
Last Week: 19		With "Ko-be, Ko-be, Ko-be" chants greeting every loss at home, Hinrich says things "can't get much worse." The problem? The Bulls haven't even left yet for their annual November nightmare trip, which comes next.
22
1
Last Week: 23		The good news: Miami finally did win a game (A) without D-Wade and (B) before the Dolphins did. The bad news: Wade doesn't sound too thrilled about coming back this week, with four games in five nights looming.
23
1
Last Week: 22		When they awoke last Wednesday with a 2-1 record, it was the latest in a season that the Knicks had been over .500 since sitting at 16-15 on Jan. 4, 2005. But back-to-back home L's to the Florida teams took care of that.
24
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Last Week: 24		Finally winning after an 0-5 start "feels like you got King Kong off your back," says Caron Butler. Yet you suspect that under-fire coach Eddie Jordan will need a few more wins before he can say the same.
25
5
Last Week: 20		The Warriors were never 0-5 in the Chamberlain Era. Never in the Rick Barry Era, either. They were never 0-5 in Don Nelson's first stint as coach ... but this is actually the fourth time it's happened since 1997-98.
26
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Last Week: 26		Full disclosure: Philly has twice as many wins as we were counting on two weeks in, even though four of the Sixers' first six games were at home. It gets tougher, too, with five of the next seven on the road.
27
3
Last Week: 30		The league's longest sellout streak, dating to 1999, ended with the home opener. But the league's schedule delivered two early winnable games as consolation (Sonics and Wolves) and the shorthanded Kings won both.
28
3
Last Week: 25		Last week we relayed Pau's recent announcement that he's "proud to call Memphis home." This week? We regret to report that a win over lowly Seattle is the only solace for a sluggish Gasol (16.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg) so far.
29
--

Last Week: 29		A loss Wednesday at home to Sacramento would result in the Wolves' first 0-6 start since 1994-95. I'm guessing you had a hunch that we're about to remind you that '94-95 was their last season without KG.
30
Seattle
0-7
2
Last Week: 28		Durant won't miss Seattle if this keeps up: Sonics go 0-3 on their first extended homestand of perhaps their final season in town and the kid shoots 17-for-58 from the floor, which computes to 29.3 percent.
  • Biggest Jump:
  • 11
  • Biggest Drop:
  • 6

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