How can anyone be negative in the team's situation?

[mr. dee]

We are currently 3rd in the east! 12-8 is actually an impressive record, given the injuries early this season.

"But but but they have unimpressive win against lottery teams"

A win is a win. It doesn't matter if we won by 30 or 1. Or you guys would rather be tonight's Bulls who got demolished by the Mavs, a lottery bound team.

Beating Pistons on their home court is not a good win?
Blowing out Nets like they should is not a good win?
Avenging the loss against the Bulls without Horford and Crowder is not a good win?
Winning against perennial playoff contender in Hornets is not a good win?

"We were better last year!"

Not really. More exciting? Probably. Last year's team were just clinging for a playoff spot during this time of the season.


"We'll be 0-5 in the road stretch!"

You never know. Just like you can't simply assume that any schedule against lottery teams are sure win. This team plays down to their level of competition. I expect them to pick them up against these good teams. We won against elite teams last year. Its not far-fetched to think they'll also win some against them this season.

If this team managed to reach 20+ wins by the end of the year, we'll be considered good as advertised.

[apc]

I think the gaps between top and bottom teams is smaller then in the past. No team is officially tanking . Past tanking team have improved. Bad teams have a chance to win almost any good team on a good day( Cavs barley won vs sixers).
With all that , I got to admit the Celtics do not look convincing yet.

[nickagneta]

Here, here. Given the injuries and the fact it looks like Stevens is intent on giving Rozier and Brown some good run in the rotation, I think to be sitting in third place, just 2 back from Cleveland playing at .600 rate(which is a 52 win pace), is pretty darn good at this point.

You will have complainers/negative Nancys who will just kill this team no matter what and the group of fans that have expectations that are too high for this team, but I hope most see this team for what it is, a team that will probably win 48-54 games and hopefully at least to the second round of the playoffs. Now if Ainge makes a trade to help the bench( bring in a stud big to start while moving Amir to the bench or trading for a solid 6th to 8th man type) we might expect even more wins, but if not, this is the team that they will be, a top 3 team in the East that people wont want to face in the playoffs.

[Roy H.]

We're in New England. Pessimism is in the fans' blood.   

But yeah, as much as most of us hated Rick Pitino, he nailed it with his negativity rank.  There's always going to be that vocal contingent of fans that want more than they're getting, no matter the circumstances.

[Granath]

TP to Mr. Dee.

I swear this board is probably the most manic depressive I've ever been on. Every loss is treated as  the end of the world. Even close wins against bad teams is seen as a disappointment. Huge wins are overblown and are accompanied about glowing predictions on how the Celtics will win 65 games. Of course it's generally the same cast of characters. The most vocal are often the ones with the least to say.

So if someone wants to complain about a 1 point win on the road on the 2nd of back-to-back nights when the opposing team hits about 50% of their 3 pointers and Al Horford has a bad game, let them. It just shows how ignorant they are.

Is everything perfect in CelticsLand? No, it's not. Defensively the team looks a bit off this year. The anticipated rebounding problems have manifested themselves. The team is still rounding into shape after missing 3 of its top 4 big men (and two starters) for an extended period. Marcus Smart still can't shoot. So on and so forth. But it's a long season and I expect many of those issues will be corrected either by scheme or by trade.

The Cs are still holding a valuable draft pick. Jaylen Brown is still flashing some skills. The team is still on pace to win about 50 games and they'll have almost 60% of their remaining games at home starting in late December. They're still ahead of where they were last year (remember the Cs were 19-19 last year at one point). So I see the cup as far more than half full at this point.

[SHAQATTACK]

Given the amount of injuries not bad.  We should have won a couple more at least if Horford and Crowder are play n

[GreenWarrior]

we're still getting bounced in the 1st rnd.

[trickybilly]

So, like, um, Isaiah Thomas is, like, really good at running to the ring with the ball.

(How I react now when people say the sky is falling)

[jambr380]

My first thought was that we are only 1.5 games up on the 7th/8th seed Knicks and Pistons and 2.5 games up on the 9th/10th seed Hawks/Pacers who should both make a strong push for the playoffs. I guess that puts me in the negative nancy category 

But, in general, I agree with others. We are good, not great, and that is okay with the current state of the team. Hopefully at least a small trade or two will be made to address some of our needs and we can really start to assert ourselves as one of the top 2/3 franchises in the East.

The rest of December's schedule doesn't look super-promising, but we just got two wins on the back to back and I am going to be at the Orlando game on the 7th and Miami game on the 18th where I fully expect blow-out wins 

[bopna]

Well my take is we seem to play better on 1-2 days rest and actually play good even on back to backs but this team still perform like they are on a vacation on 3-4 days rest. I just want them to play with passion and bring that swagger defense back. I dont care of we win by 2 against bottom feeders then win by 16 against contenders if they play their trademark defensive efficiency then id say we are back. Fact of the matter is as long as we go 6-4 or 7-3 every 10 games the rest of the way then we can really call this season a success.

[bopna]

My first thought was that we are only 1.5 games up on the 7th/8th seed Knicks and Pistons and 2.5 games up on the 9th/10th seed Hawks/Pacers who should both make a strong push for the playoffs. I guess that puts me in the negative nancy category 

But, in general, I agree with others. We are good, not great, and that is okay with the current state of the team. Hopefully at least a small trade or two will be made to address some of our needs and we can really start to assert ourselves as one of the top 2/3 franchises in the East.

The rest of December's schedule doesn't look super-promising, but we just got two wins on the back to back and I am going to be at the Orlando game on the 7th and Miami game on the 18th where I fully expect blow-out wins 

I wouldnt really get my hopes up for blown out games. Fact of the matter is we are a team that grinds out victories even against bad trams so even so it just prbably shows we are. Steadily riding the tide. Bad teams can still get under your skin and if you can withstand the pressure of playing on their home turf and come away with awin even if its below 4 points id take it.

[Fan from VT]

I thought they'd mesh better. Amir seems a bit worse. Jae is stable or a little worse (maybe expected after a career year, not suitable for this load). Isaiah, Bradley, and Horford have been good. I was hoping for a miracle from Brown, but that may not happen. Marcus isn't taking steps forward in offense like I hoped (I was just hoping by now he'd get to a 16/5/5 type line on .75 FT%, .35-.38 3p%, .45-.38 2p% or so). Same for Rozier, not really ready for prime time. Olynyk's been ok but he doesn't rebound, so tough to pair with Horford. But he might be good trade bait to a team that has a rebounder, needs a spacer.

Basically, we needed one of Rozier/Brown/Smart to really leap forward, and none have. Barring that, we need to swap out Amir or Jae for a star type player (which we are set up to do; and I say patience, but be ready to pounce if asking prices for anyone in a bad situation drop)

[Surferdad]

My first thought was that we are only 1.5 games up on the 7th/8th seed Knicks and Pistons and 2.5 games up on the 9th/10th seed Hawks/Pacers who should both make a strong push for the playoffs. I guess that puts me in the negative nancy category 

But, in general, I agree with others. We are good, not great, and that is okay with the current state of the team. Hopefully at least a small trade or two will be made to address some of our needs and we can really start to assert ourselves as one of the top 2/3 franchises in the East.

The rest of December's schedule doesn't look super-promising, but we just got two wins on the back to back and I am going to be at the Orlando game on the 7th and Miami game on the 18th where I fully expect blow-out wins 

In this case, showing the standings is not a great way to convince we that they are really #3 in the East.  There's only 1.5 games separating 3 from 8.  That's only a couple of losses/wins.  Short of a trade, I'm feeling a bit negative about this team.  Last night's win was deceiving, no Embiid, Simmons, Covington, etc.  So to the OP:  That's how.

[Hank Finkel]

I think the gaps between top and bottom teams is smaller then in the past. No team is officially tanking . Past tanking team have improved. Bad teams have a chance to win almost any good team on a good day( Cavs barley won vs sixers).
With all that , I got to admit the Celtics do not look convincing yet.

I agree, the celtics are a scrappy team with some talent that needs to play at 100% all the time to win games and possibly blow a team out.  They might be learning to coast a little more this year in order to gear up for the playoffs.  Remember the core have now played together for a while and Horford has basically replaced Sully, so they should be better.  We as fan expect more too.  I for one get frustrated watching because I want them to be a championship team but they are far from it.  Hopefully Danny gets another piece or two to get this team to that level.  Until then there will be some ugly games.

[Ogaju]

people are not looking at the standing but the effort that they see on game day. It is just lacking for a team that showed a lot of grit and scrappiness last season.