Ranked/Last Week/Team Name 1 5 Boston Celtics Their 5-0 start through Sunday is the franchise's best since 1987-88, and their margin of victory has been 20, 3, 26, 23 and 11 points. "They are not going to go undefeated," Nets forward Richard Jefferson said. Maybe not, but they're the NBA's lone unbeaten squad and they have earned this spot until somebody proves otherwise. 2 1 Houston Rockets An estimated 200 million people in China watched Yao Ming win his matchup with Milwaukee's Yi Jianlian last Friday. For Rockets fans, it will be must-see TV this Friday when their team travels to San Antonio in an effort to make it two straight over the Spurs this season. 3 2 San Antonio Spurs So much for those fears that Tony Parker might be rusty after sitting out much of the preseason. The little Frenchman was the only Spurs player to score 15 or more points in each of their first six games. 4 3 Dallas Mavericks Which has meant more to them so far? Handing the Rockets their only loss? Or winning at Golden State last Thursday? We're guessing it was that victory in the Bay Area over Nellie's group, which caused them so much heartache a year ago. 5 4 Detroit Pistons Flip Saunders has to be relieved with the way his veterans have come out to start the season. Now he hopes his young players can get a taste of success on the road, as they embark on a five-game Western trip against teams that are a combined 6-20. 6 12 Phoenix Suns They're winning without the full contributions of Amaré Stoudemire, who is still bothered by a sore knee. But Leandro (the Brazilian Blur) Barbosa helped pick up the slack with a career-high 39 points in Saturday's win over the Magic. "[He] is the fastest man in the NBA," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said afterward. 7 9 Utah Jazz They led the NBA in scoring (111.1 points per game) after the first two weeks. But what has them really excited is the return to form of Andrei Kirilenko, who has been putting up his old across-the-board numbers. Even his biggest critic, Jerry Sloan, admits Kirilenko has been terrific. 8 8 New Orleans Hornets Chris Paul dished out an NBA season-high 21 assists (with just two turnovers) to go with 19 points in their win at the Lakers last week. The sensational point guard has scored at least 15 points in each of his first five games while racking up 10 or more assists three times. 9 6 Los Angeles Lakers Lamar Odom had 18 points and 10 boards in his season debut, a victory over the Timberwolves. Throw in the fact that the Lakers lead the league in shooting (50.5 percent), and Phil Jackson has to be pleased. But this week's back-to-back at San Antonio (Tues.) and Houston (Wed.) will be a major test. 10 7 Toronto Raptors No Rasho to judgement: Maybe it's a coincidence, but they snapped a three-game losing skid and won two straight (over the Sixers and Bulls) after Sam Mitchell inserted Rasho Nesterovic into the starting lineup in place of Andrea Bargnani. Nesterovic definitely gives them more muscle underneath.
Only quality win for the Celtics was the Nets who lost Vince Carter in the third quarter of a close game. The only western conference team they've beaten has been Denver and they've been awful early on this season. On the other hand, the Rockets have only one loss to Dallas who has only lost twice. We've beaten the Lakers, the Jazz and the Spurs.
The people have us ranked third. Let's see if we can boost that up a bit: http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/rank?versionId=4&listId=46
celtics hasn't proved anything except beating weak teams. i still think spurs is #1. they lost to one of top teams, rox only. they are the champ. their roster is same as the team winning the champ. how they put spurs at #3. rox won a few tough games, including spurs. since mavs who beat rox lost twice, that gives rox the edge over mavs. here is my top five: #1: spurs #2: rox #3: mavs #4: suns #5: celtics #4 and #5 are debatable.
Exactly. The only reason they are number one is that they are the only team unbeaten so far. A big reason for that is their weak schedule. Wizards, Raptors, Nuggets, Hawks & Nets? I mean c'mon. Those aren't exactly cream of the crop. Wait till they play the legit teams (like the rockets ). The rockets on the other hand had IMO the toughest schedule to start the season. Still adjusting to the new offense and yet they are at 6-1. Not too shabby.