Boston Celtics: Cs stay stagnant in latest power rankings

A little over a quarter of the way through the 2020-21 NBA season, the Boston Celtics remain one of the best teams in the league.

Boasting a record of 12-10, they find themselves placed fourth in the Eastern Conference standings and ninth in the league’s standings. However, despite this success, the team has been riddled with injuries to start the season, and, most recently, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown found themselves sidelined because of it.

The former missed his first of a string of games back on February 2nd while the latter missed his first on the 5th.

Even with this adversity, however, the Celtics still find themselves place seventh on Bleacher Report’s latest power rankings.

The Boston Celtics remain seventh on Bleacher Report’s power rankings

Despite only accumulating a .500 record on the week (February 1st-7th), writer Mo Dakhil believes the team is worthy of keeping their spot in the standings, citing their competitive fire throughout each contest coupled with the fact that they have a depleted roster as his main reasons.

"The trip started with a win over the Golden State Warriors before Boston dropped a close one to the Sacramento Kings. Then it took a Kemba Walker mid-range pull-up to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat against the Los Angeles Clippers before a matinee loss against the Phoenix Suns.Seeing that shot go in had to feel good for Walker, who had missed a similar one to win a game against the Los Angeles Lakers not too long ago. The point guard has only played nine games so far and is still working his way back into a rhythm, shooting just 30.9 percent from three.Jaylen Brown joined Marcus Smart on the injured list, forcing head coach Brad Stevens to have to dig deep into his rotation. The Celtics have yet to play a game fully healthy and are still finding their identity."

Dakhil would go on to insinuate that franchise point guard Kemba Walker must start playing up to his lucrative payday if this team wants a shot at rising the rankings — though some here at the Houdini believe he’s playing better than ever, others are under the impression that Danny Ainge should consider dealing the All-Star.

All in all, the team as a whole will need to come together and simply perform at a higher level should they want to hang with the “big boys” ahead of them on the list.

(**Piece was scheduled prior to Tuesday night’s game**)