The Boston Celtics didn’t deserve a bad ding for losing one game by as many points in overtime.
The Celtics fell one place in ESPN’s latest NBA power rankings and held onto their previous position in NBA.com’s corresponding list this week, following a period in which they beat the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz on the road but fell to the Houston Rockets at home. Boston begins Week 20 of the NBA season in third place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 41-18 record and lofty places in the most notable NBA pecking orders.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks praised Jayson Tatum, the newly minted NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month, for carrying the load in Kemba Walker’s absence. Nevertheless, Boston fell from No. 4 to No. 5 in ESPN’s NBA power rankings.
“Although the Celtics lost two nail-biters in seven days, February should be considered a huge success,” Marks wrote Monday. “Not only did the Celtics go 9-3, they did so without Kemba Walker for eight of those games. Although he shot 9-of-27 in the loss to Houston, Jayson Tatum had a month to remember. The All-Star averaged 30.7 points on 49.4 percent from the field and 48.1 percent from 3.”
NBA.com ranked the Celtics No. 4 for the second consecutive week, and John Schummann on Monday noted how Daniel Theis is becoming increasingly important to the Celtics at both ends of the court.
” … Theis’ sneaky second screens … remain an integral part of the Celtics’ offense,” Schummann wrote. “And they’ll be facing four traditional centers (who generally don’t shoot outside the paint) this week. But the Celtics were much better defensively on Saturday (allowing just 22 points on 32 defensive possessions) when Theis was off the floor and they had a slightly more mobile group in the game.”
The Celtics will kick off this ranking period Tuesday night when they host the Brooklyn Nets at TD Garden. Boston will visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday before returning home for dates with the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday and Sunday, respectively, at TD Garden.
