24-15 Team...how good are the playoffs looking?

[nickagneta]

Boston was also 22-4 at one point this season and is just 18-13 since (and is just 6-7 in the last 13).  I think that 18-13 is more representative of the actual ability of this team without Hayward (that is a 48 win pace).  Thus, I wouldn't be overly surprised if it lost in the first round (depending on matchup) and think this team pretty clearly loses to both Toronto and Cleveland and thus has to hope it avoids both of them until the ECF.

Then is Cleveland as a team more representative of their current 8- 14 than their 17-1 streak earlier in the year? You can really break down any team's streaks and say that is more the team they are over their whole record but as Bill Belichick says "You are what you are." and the Celtics ate a 40-17 team, 1st in the East.

[wdleehi]

A good team having a lull in the middle of an NBA season?  That never happens.

[hwangjini_1]

So why are we discounting the good stretches?  All those games counted and we are where we are.

Because people have an ax to grind for some reason.  And are unable to admit that 24-15 since the streak ended is the 4th best record in the NBA during that span.  So then they find even shorter stretches to go look at, throwing sample size to the wind.

The Celtics could beat the Warriors in a thrilling 7-game series and some would complain that we didn’t win in 6.

5.

[PhoSita]

I think we all should have learned by now to put an asterisk next to any raptors regular season performance.

[KGs Knee]

I think we all should have learned by now to put an asterisk next to any raptors regular season performance.

You can't rule it out, but I'll believe they'll be a different playoff team when I see it. Every year they under-perform when the playoffs roll around.

[Phantom255x]

So why are we discounting the good stretches?  All those games counted and we are where we are.

Because people have an ax to grind for some reason.  And are unable to admit that 24-15 since the streak ended is the 4th best record in the NBA during that span.  So then they find even shorter stretches to go look at, throwing sample size to the wind.

The Celtics could beat the Warriors in a thrilling 7-game series and some would complain that we didn’t win in 6.

5.

Ahem, 4. My expectations are pretty fair! 

[PhoSita]

As far as the Celts go, I think they've hit some predictable struggles midway through the season after starting hot.

I'm not worried.

Not only are my expectations relatively low for this season given how young the team is and the fact that they lost Hayward in Game 1, but with the Warriors at full strength they aren't winning a title anyway.

It would be sweet to beat LeBron, though.


When the playoffs roll around the Celts will be able to shorten their rotation.   Kyrie, Brown, Tatum, Horford as the core guys with Smart, Rozier, Monroe, and maybe Morris or Theis rounding out the bench.


With that in mind, I think the Celts will have as much of a chance as any team in the East to make the Finals, but at the same time I don't think they'll have any easy time with any opponent.

[PhoSita]

Then again, if the Celts can't ever find a way to make LeBron work hard at all to score, it may not matter who else is on the Cavs.

[Roy H.]

The Celts look like a good team that is :

1. Missing it’s second best ( maybe best) player; and are

2. relying on a lot of young guys.

[PhoSita]

The Celts look like a good team that is :

1. Missing it’s second best ( maybe best) player; and are

2. relying on a lot of young guys.

They also look like they need a break and a reason to feel like the regular season matters again.

[MikeB12]

Those who responded to this thread that they aren't worried better start being worried after the Celtics got their tails blown off at home by the "NEW" Cavs...what a pathetic performance today...

MikeB

[Moranis]

Boston was also 22-4 at one point this season and is just 18-13 since (and is just 6-7 in the last 13).  I think that 18-13 is more representative of the actual ability of this team without Hayward (that is a 48 win pace).  Thus, I wouldn't be overly surprised if it lost in the first round (depending on matchup) and think this team pretty clearly loses to both Toronto and Cleveland and thus has to hope it avoids both of them until the ECF.

Then is Cleveland as a team more representative of their current 8- 14 than their 17-1 streak earlier in the year? You can really break down any team's streaks and say that is more the team they are over their whole record but as Bill Belichick says "You are what you are." and the Celtics ate a 40-17 team, 1st in the East.

sure had Cleveland not over hauled their roster that would have been fair, especially if IT had continued his poor play

[SCeltic34]

If we weren't so inconsistent following the London game, I wouldn't have been too concerned about this blowout loss to the Cavs (as infuriating as the effort tonight was).  I thought that the long stretch of rest would do our team a lot of good, but it's done anything but.

I wish Ainge had found a way to acquire more vets and I'd have been fine cutting ties with some of our young players to do so.  If we fall short of the Eastern Conference Finals, it's going to be due to our horrible bench which is far too young and inexperienced to rely on in playoff games.  That said, I trust Ainge's assessments and I'll assume that there was nothing palatable enough to benefit us without hurting our long term flexibility.

[Roy H.]

Those who responded to this thread that they aren't worried better start being worried after the Celtics got their tails blown off at home by the "NEW" Cavs...what a pathetic performance today...

MikeB

What is there to be worried about? This team isn’t really a contender without Hayward, so why panic?

[Moranis]

I think we all should have learned by now to put an asterisk next to any raptors regular season performance.

what is the asterisk. That they will lose to Cleveland but beat everyone else?  I mean in the last two seasons they have more playoff series victories then every single team in the league except Cleveland and Golden State (they are tied with San Antonio)