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Two wins in the past week helped the Boston Celtics improve to 8-6 on the season and move up one spot in SB Nation's NBA power rankings this week, creeping up to No. 11.
After starting the week with a 112-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, the Celtics bounced back with victories on Friday and Sunday to close the week out on a strong note. Boston took down the Oklahoma City Thunder, 108-100, on Wednesday before going on the road Sunday and knocking off the Orlando Magic in overtime, 116-110.
Boston's three high-scoring affairs this past week left SB Nation writer Seth Rosenthal wondering about the team's defense. After moving them up to No. 10, Rosenthal wrote:
I don't know, I guess we're just supposed to wait until Boston's defense blooms. The fact that they beat the Thunder this week just makes things more confusing. If I may, a solution to keep everyone happy while we figure out who/what the Celtics are this year: Get Jason Collins some second-unit minutes and instruct him to behave exactly like Kevin Garnett does, right down to the barking and fist-pounding.
The Celtics are 23rd in the NBA in opponent defense, allowing just a fraction over 100 points per game thus far in 2012.
You can see the full rankings here to see what Rosenthal had to say about the rest of the league.