Celtics power rankings

Let me just go on the record as saying power rankings are more or less completely, utterly useless.  Beat up on a couple bad teams, and you sky up the rankings.  Lose a couple tough games to good teams, and you are bound to fall.

That said, they are also a lot of fun.  It's fun to see where people are ranking your team, and even more fun when they're pretty damn high.  Here are some notable power rankings, and the C's position:

• Marc Stein, ESPN (Celtics rank: 6) -

"Ray Allen is shooting 30.1 percent from long range. Sheed is 12-for-63 on 3s since sinking six 3s in Philly on Nov. 3. And Boston has given up 110 or more points three times ... after doing so just six times in '08-09."

• NBA Fanhouse (Celtics rank: 3) -

"Teams are starting to become green with envy over Gang Green. The team many believed has a good shot of winning its second title in three years is starting to show up. The Celtics won their fifth straight Tuesday at Charlotte. Forward Kevin Garnett, rounding into form after coming back this season from a knee injury, has made an incredible 22 of his past 26 shots."

• Twitter Top 10, Ball Don't Lie (Celtics rank: 3) -

"@thegarz88 Celtics go undefeated as Paul Pierce picks his spots; 2nd amongst non-centers in EFG% and 1st in Chris Bosh ego crushing"

• John Hollinger, ESPN (Celtics rank: 1)
• Basketball Geek (Celtics rank: 1)

It's interesting that no human observers have the Celtics higher than third, yet both the rankings found by statistics have the C's in first place.  Let's hope the statistics are right, eh?

Cheers to the basketball geeks and the formulas that say the C's are the NBA's top team, but wow, Marc Stein, are the Celtics really that low?  Looking at the teams ahead of the C's, though, you could certainly make his argument that the C's don't deserve to be any higher:  They lost to three of the teams ahead of them and, of the two they didn't lose to, the Cavs have been playing very good basketball and the Lakers are an easy choice for the top spot.

And if you don't agree, send your hate mail to Marc Stein, not me.  I am only a messenger.