Celtics could be No. 1 to stay

As March gives way to April the New Orleans Hornets cede the top rung of the Powerless Rankings to the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics’ convincing victory over the Hornets on Friday was enough to push them to No. 1, a standing they might not give up through the end of the regular season.

The San Antonio Spurs made a sizeable jump, using their seven-game win streak to move to fourth, while the Denver Nuggets, in spite of Monday’s meltdown in Phoenix, have cracked the top 10.

Rankings, as usual, are judged on games from Tuesday through Monday. Previous standing for each team follows current ranking.

PARADE PLANNERS

• 1. (2) Boston Celtics – Does Celtics’ 25-5 record against the West mean the Eastern Conference finals will be the real NBA Finals?

• 2. (1) New Orleans Hornets – Coach Byron Scott told Hornets he wanted them to return from six-game trip in same position in which they left. Four games into trek, they’re still looking down on rest of West.

• 3. (4) Detroit Pistons – Flip Saunders thinks Rasheed Wallace will someday become a coach. In a related story, two-thirds of all NBA referees applied for early retirement this week.

• 4. (8) San Antonio Spurs – How wild is West? Just ask Spurs. In three weeks they went from first to sixth in conference standings and now back up to second.

• 5. (5) Phoenix Suns – When Shaquille O’Neal called Amare Stoudemire the best big man in the game less than a month ago, the compliment rang somewhat hollow. Turns out O’Neal just might know what he’s talking about.

• 6. (3) Los Angeles Lakers – Pau Gasol is expected to return this week. Is Andrew Bynum far off? Bigger question: How long can Derek Fisher continue to play with torn tendon in his foot?

  STILL DREAMING

• 7. (6)Utah Jazz– Toughest closing schedule in the West begins Friday: San Antonio, at New Orleans, at Dallas, Denver, Houston, at San Antonio. Add it up and the Jazz could be looking over their shoulder at the Nuggets by season’s end.

• 8. (7) Houston Rockets – Since their 22-game win streak, the Rockets are 1-4 against teams with winning records with the four losses coming by an average of 17.8 points.
  

• 9. (13) Denver Nuggets – Hardest team in the league to read. They beat Mavericks and Warriors then blow a 22-point lead in Phoenix. What was such a promising week has again left the Nuggets on the outside looking in.
  

• 10. (9) Golden State Warriors – Four-game trip that includes visits to San Antonio, Dallas and New Orleans will help determine whether Warriors can strengthen their grip on one of conference’s final two playoff seeds. They have this much going for them: Since Stephen Jackson returned from his season-opening suspension, Warriors haven’t lost consecutive road games.
  

• 11. (10) Dallas Mavericks – Losing to Denver and Golden State has left the Mavericks in a three-way fight for survival, but the week did end with a second win over the Clippers and this promising bit of news: Dirk Nowitzki has made enough progress from his ankle and knee injuries that team officials think he might be ready to play in this week’s tough three-game stretch against Warriors, Lakers and Suns.
  

• 12. (11) Orlando Magic – Magic’s most feared opponent? Dwight Howard. He’s already knocked three teammates out of the lineup. He tore Tony Battie’s rotator cuff when he whacked him during a workout shortly before training camp. He caught Jameer Nelson in the chin with a vicious forearm last week, causing the Magic’s point guard to experience concussion-like symptoms and miss parts of two games. On Monday, Howard broke the right middle finger on Brian Cook’s shooting hand when he hit him in practice. Cook is expected to miss most of the final two weeks of the regular season.
  

• 13. (14) Cleveland Cavaliers – How many more games do the Cavs have to lose before we’re obligated to stop calling them The Playoff Team No One Wants To Face?
  

• 14. (18) Toronto Raptors – Raptors still have time to find a little rhythm before postseason. Only two of last eight games are against teams currently seeded for playoffs: Atlanta and Detroit.
  

• 15. (12) Philadelphia 76ers – Sixers currently hold East’s No. 7 seed, but that’s not the biggest indication of how much they’ve improved this season. This is: Team is averaging 19,930 fans for its last six home dates compared to 13,263 for its first 31.
  

• 16. (15) Portland Trail Blazers – Good news: Greg Oden is dunking. Bad news: It came on a 9-foot rim during a pickup game at a local heath club.
  

• 17. (16) Washington Wizards – With Antonio Daniels nursing a wrist injury and Caron Butler playing on a sore hamstring, Wizards might need to lean on Gilbert Arenas more than they expected.
  

• 18. (17) Atlanta Hawks – Three-game lead with eight to play should seem fairly secure in race for East’s final playoff berth. Until you notice five of those eight games are against Toronto, Philadelphia (twice), Boston and Orlando.

  GET THOSE TEE TIMES READY

• 19. (19) Indiana Pacers – Jermaine O’Neal is back, but Pacers are going to need even more help – from Hawks – if they hope to reach playoffs.
  

• 20. (20) New Jersey Nets – Richard Jefferson admitted publicly what everyone had long known about the Nets: “We were dead men walking with the Jason Kidd situation.” The Mavericks feel your pain, R.J.
  

• 21. (21) Sacramento Kings – Ron Artest deemed the Kings’ season “a failure” because they didn’t make the playoffs. Considering Artest has only reached the postseason four times in his nine seasons, we call it something else: “the norm.”
  

• 22. (24) Charlotte Bobcats – After beating the Lakers, Seattle and Portland in succession, Bobcats coach Sam Vincent declares that he and the team have been “great” this season. That’s one way of looking at it. The other is that Charlotte’s three-game win streak was another example of how the team has underachieved.

• 23. (22) Minnesota Timberwolves – Timberwolves swingman Kirk Snyder gets the latest Quote of the Week award after receiving a fat lip from former teammate Matt Harpring during Minnesota’s victory over Utah. “He’s a physical specimen,” Snyder said, “kind of like myself.”
  

• 24. (23) Chicago Bulls – It’s taken five months, but Luol Deng can finally admit the obvious: “We weren’t that good this year.”
  

  SECAUCUS SIX

• 25. (27) Los Angeles Clippers – It’s been this kind of year for the Clippers: Elton Brand is expected to return this week. Just as Chris Kaman leaves with a right ankle injury.

• 26. (25) Milwaukee Bucks – Only suspense left in Bucks’ season is GM search. Suns vice president of basketball operations David Griffin and former Sonics GM Rick Sund have reportedly already interviewed for job.

• 27. (26) Memphis Grizzlies – Reports continue to surface that Marc Iavaroni’s coaching stint with the Grizzlies could be a one-and-done deal.

• 28. (28) Seattle SuperSonics– Sonics’ own playoff chances died in, oh, November, but they’ll have plenty of opportunity to play role of spoiler. Their last seven games are against Houston, Denver, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Golden State.

• 29. (30) New York Knicks – Knicks have practiced just four times in past three weeks. Yet another example of Isiah Thomas’ “championship” plan.

• 30. (29) Miami Heat – Not all is bad for the Heat. With Joel Anthony, Kasib Powell and Blake Ahearn on their roster, they just might have a shot at winning next season’s D-League title.