As the reigning champs with the second-best record in the league's Eastern Conference, it is safe to say the Celtics are comfortably in this mix.

If the Celtics are going to repeat as champions it will have to start with their defense — and of late they are back to playing at a championship level on that end of the floor (top 10 in the league over their last 10 games).

From the tanking teams to those that refuse to lose, and the many pretenders to the few contenders, we give you the world's most accurate power rankings.