Celtics vault up to No. 17 in ESPN power rankings

The Celtics retired No. 17 for John Havlicek.

In Marc Stein's weekly NBA power rankings for ESPN.com, the Celtics now find themselves at a season-high No. 17.  Boston played only one game last week, a shocking 89-88 victory over the East-leading Hawks.  The win was enough to launch the C's up three spots from their previous rank of No. 20.

Boston (20-31) is directly behind the No. 16 Pelicans (27-26) and only two places in back of the No. 15 Wizards (33-21).  The Celtics are also ahead of all five other teams competing for the seventh and eighth playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference--the No. 18 Pacers (21-33), No. 19 Hornets (22-30), No. 20 Pistons (21-33), No. 21 Heat (22-30) and the No. 22 Nets (21-31).

Stein notes Boston is 7-5 in its past 12 games.



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