I don't know if everyone is burnt out from the preseason hype about them or not, but the Boston Celtics are just unstoppable right now. They're 18-2 at his point, and their next 5 are: Milwaukee @ Toronto Detroit Chicago Orlando 4 home games against teams that range from good to sub-par. All very winnable for them other than maybe running into some trouble with Detroit. They'll likely be 23-2 or at worst 22-3 after those. I think it's highly possible that we see history in the making here, seeing the Celts become the only other team to reach MJ's 72-10 record with the Bulls, barring any freak injuries to one of their big 3. Watch out guys, Boston hoops is back to the heydays of old.
Been discussed before. This team isn't nearly as good as that Bulls team, which often toyed with opponents and could crush them at will when they turned up their defense. I also don't have much faith in Doc Rivers. They haven't had single road game in the Western Conference yet. Let's see how well they play in the dog days of February and March. As we learned with the Pistons a couple of years ago, hot starts mean zero late in the season when fresh legs are long gone and other teams have had time to adjust to your weaknesses.
they get to play each team in the atlantic division 4 times. in fact they get to play almost every team in the east 4 times. they only have to play the wester powers twice. think about that advantage as "padding your record" when the oposite schedue is there for the western teams that win 50+ games. ------------------ i would wager that EVERY playoff team from the west would finish with the best record in the east if they got to play in the east. on te flip side, only 3 teams in the east are good enough to even make the post season if the played in the west. the celtics being one of them, detroit and probably orlando are the others.
Man celtics have the softest game schedule for a contending team this season it seems. I know they're good, but their schedule could've helped.
They won't win 70. Look for a 3-7 stretch of 10 games for them at some point before the All Star break. I think the stars are going to get better as the season progresses but I expect Rondo, Perkins and House to slump as the season progresses. Actually, I think this team is still two rotation players away from having a realistic chance of winning it all.
They'll have 5 losses from Texas alone(I don't think we'll beat them in Boston). Road games in Phoenix, GS, Utah, LAL & Denver will add a couple of other losses. Can the Celtics go thru the East with just 1 more loss? Don't think so.
I don't think so. They will slow down. They haven't really messed with the West yet. We straight badass up in here man that's for real. They are going to be in for a rude awakening. (They'll still be at the finals though, I am sure)
They have had the second easiest schedule in the league this year. The Rockets, on the other hand, have had the fourth hardest schedule. Wait until the All-Star break before making any bold predictions.
Shyeah - you got that right. Doc Rivers just rode on Mac in Orlando. The Celts can win without a head coach.
Boston's post all star game schedule is BRUTAL: Five game in seven night West road trip right after the all star break Four game in six night road trip through San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, and New Orleans Seven back-to-backs Six of Nine games in April on the road We'll find out what they're really made of when they take their first West coast road trip the day after Christmas
Absolutely not. They are due for a breakdown somewhere during the season. Maybe an injury or two will get them, but there's no way they win 70 games. 60-65 sounds more reasonable. I would really be suprised if they win more than 65.
Man, that's pretty bad. Oh wells. Shoot me for jumping the gun. But hey, they're really getting the wins piled up right now. Truth be told, their supporting cast isn't that bad. Rondo is decent. They have Posey off the bench. Eddie House can come off the pine and light up the scoreboard. Tony Allen was solid for them last year before he blew that knee off that showboat dunk. Glen Davis put up a big game for them the other night. Kendrick Perkins is meh, but he doesn't have to do much in the starting lineup other than defend, make the gimmes and clean the leftover boards that Garnett misses. That's a solid 10-man rotation right there.
That Bulls team was special. If the Celts can go west and beat SA, Dallas, Phoenix, Utah and Houston then maybe they have a shot.
http://community.foxsports.com/blog...tics_A_GamebyGame_Breakdown_Reveals_the_Truth Just How Good Are the Celtics? A Game-by-Game Breakdown Reveals the Truth Dec 13, 2007 | 9:39PM | report this We’re 20 or so games into the regular season and people are starting to ask, “Are the Boston Celtics really this good?” Well, if you simply look at their league-best 18-2 record the obvious answer is clear. Yes. But before you find yourself lost somewhere in their hot start, between the in-your-face marketing campaign that sells us Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett like a Bell Biv Devoe reunion, and the nightly Sportscenter highlights, take a closer look at exactly what this team did to get here thus far. Below I walk you through their first 20 games of the season, in order, with the results, as well as the record of their opponents entering the match-ups. 1. Beat Wizards (0-1) in Boston by 20 points: Washington was playing awful at the start of the season – they started off 0-5 and were leading the league in turnovers – with a hobbled Gilbert Arenas leading this team into the sewer (without Arenas, the Wiz have gone 8-5). This game was a gimme. 2. Beat Raptors (2-0) in Toronto by 3 points: Good win here on the road against a sound division opponent. Ray Allen hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to pull it out. 3. Beat Nuggets (2-2) in Boston by 26 points: Another good win, although we know teams struggle on their cross-country trips (this was Denver’s fourth game in six nights; they lost the night before in New York against the Knicks). The Celtics couldn’t miss – they shot a mind-blowing 65% from the field. 4. Beat Hawks (2-2) in Boston by 23 points: This was clearly as easy win against a weaker team that went on to win only two of its first seven road games. Again, the Celtics couldn’t miss – they shot 61%. 5. Beat Nets (4-1) in New Jersey by 11 points: Good win on the road against a talented but inconsistent Nets team that wasn’t falling apart then like the way it is now. 6. Beat Pacers (3-3) in Indiana by 15 points: Another good win on the road against a “live by the three, die by the three” Pacers squad. Jim O’Brien’s boys shot only 35 percent overall, and 8-for-25 from downtown. They also killed themselves by coughing up the ball 22 times. And yet, Pacers were down only seven points with four minutes left to play. 7. Beat Nets (4-3) in Boston by 22 points: Nets were without Vince Carter. This game was a walk. 8. Beat Heat (1-7) in Boston by 1 point: The Celtics blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead and almost lost. Dwyane Wade, who was rusty in his second game back since undergoing knee surgery, missed a game-winning shot attempt at the end. He said afterwards, “There was a lot of stuff going through my head: Being out six months, my second game back I had an opportunity to win the game against the best team in the league, record-wise, in the Boston Garden." 9. Lost to Magic (8-2) in Orlando by 2 points: The Celtics looked as if they were going to win this one, but Pierce blew several scoring attempts in the final minute. 10. Beat Warriors (3-6) in Boston by 23 points: (see Nuggets above – fourth game in six days; lost to Knicks in New York the night before). Warriors were also without Al Harrington, Matt Barnes and Troy Hudson. 11. Beat Lakers (7-4) in Boston by 13 points: (see Nuggets and Warriors above – fourth game in six days; lost to Milwaukee Bucks two nights before). 12. Beat Bobcats (6-6) in Charlotte by 1 point: The Cats had the game won, up two with about four seconds left. All they had to do was inbound the ball. Jason Richardson made a moronic inbounds pass, which was recovered by Pierce who then passed to Allen for a three at the buzzer. They got lucky. 13. Lost to Cavaliers (8-6) in Cleveland by 5 points (OT): This was maybe the first real "test" the Celtics faced thus far. The returning conference champs were coming off a three-game win streak during which LeBron James stirred up Michael Jordan comparisons by scoring 112 points (37.3 per game average). James put the Cavs on his back and carried them past the Celtics with a 38-point, 13-assist effort. 14. Beat Knicks (4-9) in Boston by 45 points: It’s the Knicks!!! 15. Beat Heat (4-10) in Miami by 10 points: By now it’s safe to say the Heat aren’t very good. This game was a blowout (Heat made it close in the end by beating up the Celtic reserves). Wade, who shot 2-11 and scored 10 points, said afterwards, “I just played a bad game… simple.” 16. Beat Cavaliers (9-8) in Boston by 10 points: The Cavs were without LeBron James, and lost what was an extremely ugly game that featured two teams that shot below 40% and combined for 32 turnovers. 17. Beat Sixers (5-12) in Boston by 10 points: Philly gave the Celtics a run for their money by shooting an incredible 56% from the field. Eddie House and James Posey hit decisive threes down the stretch. 18. Beat Raptors (10-9) in Boston by 28 points: The Raps were without star Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani. This was a “gimme.” 19. Beat Bulls (6-11) in Chicago by 11 points: Nice win on the road, however, this was another ugly game by both teams. The Bulls had played the night before in Detroit and were exhausted (36% FG, 3-16 on threes). The Celtics turned the ball over 17 times (Pierce had six of them; he also shot 1-8). 20. Beat Kings (8-12) in Boston by 12 points: The Kings were rested but without Kevin Martin. This was another ugly game. The Celtics shot 39% overall and 6-22 from downtown. So, they're 18-2. But I ask this… who the hell have they played? Aside from the first match against the Raptors, the Magic game in Orlando, and the Cavs game in Cleveland, has this Celtics team played anyone good? Not really. These teams currently combine for a 162-181 (.472) record. They pummeled lesser opponents early on as they shot close to 60% during their first six games or so, but then they started to level out some (the shooting percentages had to drop eventually). They beat decent opponents by smaller margins, and then lost or barely won the “tough” games. As the season wore on, they then began to tire some, as evident in their failure to have put away several lesser teams. But all of this doesn’t necessarily answer what we want to know -- “Is this Celtics team really THAT good?” I don’t think so. They’re good. Can win the Atlantic easily good? Yes. Can kill the majority of teams in the conference good? Yes. But is that the kind of good we’re wondering whether or not this Celtics team can be? No. We know they’re good. We want to know if they’re THAT good. We want to know if they can beat the Pistons, Cavaliers or even Magic in a seven-game series. Can they? Yes. Will they? We don’t know yet. They simply haven’t played enough teams of this caliber to show us much of anything. Can they beat the big teams out in the West? We’ll find out when they make a long trip out there (December 26-30: against Sacramento, Seattle, Utah and Lakers; February 19-25: against Denver, Golden State, Phoenix, Portland and Clippers). The Houston Rockets are 12-11, which is a far cry from 18-2. Someone might say, “The Rockets aren’t very good; the Celtics would crush them.” Well, hold on a second. For starters, 11 of the Celtics 20 games were at home, and only nine of the Rockets’ 23 games were in Houston. Secondly, the Rockets played Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix each twice (home and away). They also played at Utah, at the Lakers, and at Golden State where the Warriors are a completely different animal. The current combined record of their opponents is 200-190 (.513). My point here is it's what you do against the good teams that show what you're really about. Some could argue this Rockets team, despite its record, is every bit as strong as the Celtics. It’s too early to say who’s for real and who’s not. But one thing is for sure -- the Celtics aren’t going to continue winning at a 90% clip. They’re not THAT good.
there is seriously not that much difference between .472 and .513.... the celtics are WAY better than the rockets right now, there is no comparison. they play better defense, better offense, and get more consistent play from their bench than we could ever dream of. KG is better than yao..... PP and RA combined are easily better than just t-mac. i wish people would stop acting like teams out west are just so unbeatable though. thats all i hear is "wait until they come out west", like the 13-10 jazz, 12-11 rockets, slumping mavs, and the suns no defense playing ass will just be soooo tough to beat, please.
