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

[Rosco917]

I'm not negative exactly...more like disappointed certain team weakness weren't better addressed in the off season.

The games we had to play without Horford and Crowder may have gotten us a few more wins if they were available. 12-8 would be 14-6.

The reality is, I feel the team can play better basketball overall.

[GreenFaith1819]

CelticsBlog HAS to be negative about SOMETHING (or SOMEONE)

No Employee #8, No Rondo, No Uncle Jeff, No Sully...

The blog would literally implode upon itself without a negative thread somewhere.

[Chef Parish]

RJ Hunter and Colton Iverson are not walking through that door.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

people see #3 separated by 1.5 from 8th as a bad thing when all that means is teams aren't as bad as last season. as the post a  couple b4 mine said, bad from last season are good, terrible are now bad and tankers aren't really tanking.

[Clench123]

We struggled with teams we should've beaten handily.  No consistency with any rotation we've rolled out so far.  Our defense hasn't been what it was last season.  Most of the time it seems like we are just going through the motion; no effort, no sense of urgency.  We barely escape in victory games that should've been blowouts.

Our record, no matter how good, is no way reflective of our performance so far, which has been pathetic considered how good we were slated be this season

We'll see on Monday how we handle the Rockets or how they handle us.  It'll be a big test to see where we are.

[mef730]

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

Exactly. My first thought when I saw the title was, "Because most of us grew up as Red Sox fans, as well."

Mike

[chilidawg]

people see #3 separated by 1.5 from 8th as a bad thing when all that means is teams aren't as bad as last season. as the post a  couple b4 mine said, bad from last season are good, terrible are now bad and tankers aren't really tanking.

We're also just 2 games out of first in the Conference.  The bottom line is that things are bunched up because it's early in the season still. 

Record looks fine, but I'm not impressed with how they're playing right now.  Not as good as they were the last part of last season.

[green_bballers13]

Some people expected this team to be the 4th best in the NBA. They are not.

While they may be close to Toronto, both teams are pretenders. GSW, Cle, (a mile down the road) SA, and (a couple miles away) LAC are the contenders. Every other team should be building for the future, in my opinion.

This doesn't mean that teams should tank. They should play hard, develop youth, and try to win basketball games.

Keeping this in perspective has helped me to not overreact to a Detroit loss or a close game against Philly.

[liam]

I'm very happy with the Celtics thus far. They are about where I expected them to be. Still rounding into shape. Knocking off the injury rust ( JC, KO, AB,MS) I love watching Jaylen Brown play and I'm excited about the future. I like both of the stash bigs and The 2017 draft looks very special. There are a list of things I wish were different but I'm happy with things as they are too.

[alldaboston]

Some people expected this team to be the 4th best in the NBA. They are not.

While they may be close to Toronto, both teams are pretenders. GSW, Cle, (a mile down the road) SA, and (a couple miles away) LAC are the contenders. Every other team should be building for the future, in my opinion.

This doesn't mean that teams should tank. They should play hard, develop youth, and try to win basketball games.

Keeping this in perspective has helped me to not overreact to a Detroit loss or a close game against Philly.

that's why i have fallen in love with the Lakers young core. they're getting lots of time to play and develop, and they're still playing hard and winning games. they dont need another pick; they've got their main guys and soon will be in that 40 win range. Free Agents will see that, and i wouldnt be surprised to see some big name players joining the lakers soon. almost like how Al saw us: a young, hungry core that played fun basketball and was on the upswing.

[Rivers23]

I didn't like how the team looked on the court against the Sixers. I mean, it's a bottom team and their best defensive player didn't play. It's worrisome, it seems that every game one of the scoring starters plays very badly. As for the Rockets, if we start running with them, it's gonna be a rough night. I hope the team will stick to good half court offense instead of letting the run and gun offense dictate the defense.

[LooseCannon]

I didn't like how the team looked on the court against the Sixers. I mean, it's a bottom team and their best defensive player didn't play. It's worrisome, it seems that every game one of the scoring starters plays very badly. As for the Rockets, if we start running with them, it's gonna be a rough night. I hope the team will stick to good half court offense instead of letting the run and gun offense dictate the defense.

It's supposed to be the other way around.  Brad Stevens wants a strong defense to dictate a fast-paced offense.  Halfcourt offense is caused by a failure to get stops and turnovers.

[Somebody]

Only thing I'm not happy about is a lack of minutes for Brown and no post up or pick and roll plays for smart. Otherwise I'm fine.

[mr. dee]

Some people expected this team to be the 4th best in the NBA. They are not.

While they may be close to Toronto, both teams are pretenders. GSW, Cle, (a mile down the road) SA, and (a couple miles away) LAC are the contenders. Every other team should be building for the future, in my opinion.

This doesn't mean that teams should tank. They should play hard, develop youth, and try to win basketball games.

Keeping this in perspective has helped me to not overreact to a Detroit loss or a close game against Philly.

Clippers belongs in the pretenders category. They haven't done squat to be label as contenders.

[saltlover]

Some people expected this team to be the 4th best in the NBA. They are not.

While they may be close to Toronto, both teams are pretenders. GSW, Cle, (a mile down the road) SA, and (a couple miles away) LAC are the contenders. Every other team should be building for the future, in my opinion.

This doesn't mean that teams should tank. They should play hard, develop youth, and try to win basketball games.

Keeping this in perspective has helped me to not overreact to a Detroit loss or a close game against Philly.

that's why i have fallen in love with the Lakers young core. they're getting lots of time to play and develop, and they're still playing hard and winning games. they dont need another pick; they've got their main guys and soon will be in that 40 win range. Free Agents will see that, and i wouldnt be surprised to see some big name players joining the lakers soon. almost like how Al saw us: a young, hungry core that played fun basketball and was on the upswing.

I think you've fallen a little too in love with said core.  They've gotten a bit lucky so far record-wise.  Their point differential is 5th-worst in the league -- if it stays at its current level, they'd be much more likely to finish with fewer than 30 wins than over 40.  If luck didn't exist, they'd probably be 7-15 and on their way to a 27-28 win season.  Luck often evens out over 82 games.  If they don't start playing better, that's probably where they're headed.

Of course, they're a young team and might start playing better.  But right now, their record looks rather inflated.