The Boston Celtics have fallen below the NBA stratosphere again.
The C’s slipped in the latest editions of both ESPN’s and NBA.com’s weekly NBA power rankings. The lowering of the Celtics’ position in the NBA pecking orders follows a week in which Boston beat the Phoenix Suns but lost to the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers on the back end of a five-game road trip, in which the C’s went 2-3 overall.
Here’s why ESPN.com dropped the Celtics from No. 2 to No. 5, with the Nuggets, Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks overtaking Boston in its Week 6 NBA power rankings.
“Could a 2-3 road trip, including a loss to Denver that saw Kemba Walker stretchered off the court, be called a success? The answer is yes,” Bobby Marks wrote Monday. “Despite falling out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference, we learned more about this Boston team not in the win over Phoenix but in the two losses — by a combined seven points — to the Clippers and Nuggets. The undermanned Celtics continue to show their resilience and toughness as evidenced by the near comeback win (down 20 late in the third quarter) against Denver.”
NBA.com’s John Schuhmann pegged the Celtics at No. 6 this week, four spots below the No. 2 spot they held in Week 5.
“Before they left for their five-game trip, the Celtics had the league’s No. 1 offense, having scored more than 116 points per 100 possessions over their previous nine games,” Schuhmann wrote Monday. “Now, they rank 11th offensively, having scored less than a point per possession — with Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker all shooting less than 40 percent — in going 2-3 on the trip. More concerning is the condition of Walker after a nasty collision with Semi Ojeleye in Denver on Friday, though back-up Brad Wanamaker has had his best stretch of basketball in his 13 months with the Celtics. He’s totaled 38 points (on an effective field goal percentage of 60 percent) and 15 assists (with only five turnovers) over the last three games. The Cs have come back to earth a bit, but they were a possession away from beating (and defended pretty well against) the two-star Clippers on the road on Wednesday.”
The rationales of Marks and Schuhmann show how the result of each game can impact a given team’s place in the NBA power rankings. Had the Celtics won those close games against the Clippers and Nuggets and gone 4-1 on the road trip, their record would be 14-2, good enough to top the Eastern Conference standings and maintain their No. 2 spot in ESPN’s and NBA.com’s power rankings.
The Celtics beat the Sacramento Kings on Monday night in their first game back from their road trip. If Boston follows that victory by winning two games against the Brooklyn Nets and one against the New York Knicks this week, they might climb back into the NBA’s rarefied air.
