The Next 10 Games

We got a big holiday break, but come back with a vengeance.


Cleveland
Atlanta
Chicago (away)
New Orleans
Oklahoma City (away)
Denver (away)
Los Angeles Clippers (away)
Golden State (away)
Portland (away)
Houston

There could be a lot of losses in that group, a lot of good teams.  New Orleans and Cleveland and Denver are good shots at wins.  Chicago is reeling from the loss of Rose, but they are getting healthier otherwise.  I'd actually be happy, although not estatic, with going 4-6.


Toronto, next 10 games:

Fri 27 @ New York
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
7:30 PM
Sat 28 vs New York  
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
7:00 PM
Tue 31 @ Chicago
United Center, Chicago, IL
8:00 PM

January
Wed 1 vs Indiana  
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
7:00 PM
Fri 3 @ Washington
Verizon Center, Washington, DC
7:00 PM
Sun 5 @ Miami
American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
6:00 PM
Tue 7 @ Indiana
Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
7:00 PM
Wed 8 vs Detroit  
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
7:00 PM
Sat 11 vs Brooklyn  
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
7:00 PM
Mon 13 vs Milwaukee  
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
7:00 PM

3 hard games, (Indy 2x, Miami) and then Detroit, Washington and Chicago.  The rest are easy.  They could have a winning record, maybe even 7-3, out of these.


Chicago, next 10 games:


Wed 25 @ Brooklyn
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
11:00 AM
Sat 28 vs Dallas  
United Center, Chicago, IL
7:00 PM
Mon 30 @ Memphis
FedExForum, Memphis, TN
7:00 PM
Tue 31 vs Toronto  
United Center, Chicago, IL
7:00 PM

January Opponent

Thu 2 vs Boston  
United Center, Chicago, IL
7:00 PM
Sat 4 vs Atlanta  
United Center, Chicago, IL
7:00 PM
Tue 7 vs Phoenix  
United Center, Chicago, IL
7:00 PM
Fri 10 @ Milwaukee
BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
7:30 PM
Sat 11 vs Charlotte  
United Center, Chicago, IL
7:00 PM
Mon 13 vs Washington  
United Center, Chicago, IL
7:00 PM


Probably about half hard and half not.  They get the obligatory "gimme" game against Milwaukee too.  Gimme for everybody except us.  Sheesh.  They are currently beating Brooklyn.  That would put them decimal points behind us for 8th place in the standings.  8th, the absolute worst place for us to be.  The next 9 games won't be cake-walks though.


Washington's next 10 games:


Fri 27 @ Minnesota
Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
8:00 PM
Sat 28 vs Detroit  
Verizon Center, Washington, DC
7:00 PM
Mon 30 @ Detroit
Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, MI
7:30 PM

January Opponent

Wed 1 vs Dallas  
Verizon Center, Washington, DC
6:00 PM
Fri 3 vs Toronto  
Verizon Center, Washington, DC
7:00 PM
Sun 5 vs Golden State  
Verizon Center, Washington, DC
6:00 PM CSN
Tue 7 @ Charlotte
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
7:00 PM
Wed 8 @ New Orleans
New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA
8:00 PM CSN
Fri 10 @ Indiana
Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
7:00 PM
Sat 11 vs Houston  
Verizon Center, Washington, DC


The Wiz have a tough next 10 games.  They might win fewer than us.

In summary, I'm seeing us still in 8th place in mid-January, with Toronto extending their lead on us, and Rondo coming back within 2 weeks or so afterwards.

Obviously, throw all this into a cocked hat if we trade for Asik or a major injury on any of these teams or anything like that. Then there's no way of connecting trend-to-date to anything. One thing we have going for us is that we are young and Stevens isn't playing anybody into the ground with 40mpg, so we're more likely to stay healthy.

Just final thoughts before I sign off. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Good Kwanzchukahmas to everyone. A Festivus for the Rest of Us!


bob


.

What a division we're in.  

With losses by the Nets and Knicks today its overall record is now 49-90.

Wow.

And no team now has more home losses (11) than the pathetic Knicks.  Division winner probably won't win more than 35 games.

This is a team of spurts—good spurts and bad sports. Sometimes the direction of the spurts is correlated with the caliber of teams they play; sometimes it's not. I'm not sending any underlying slow but steady glimmers of growth in any particular direction.

I feat that may not happen until they are playing within what might be described as a more traditional model: Intimidating center, rock-tough power forward, athletic attacking small forward, lights-out shooting guard, and ball-distributing point guard/floor general. It could be argued that should have four-fifths of this model in place by February, although some might debate just how close to ideal they will really be at that time. But it's almost impossible to list the sheer number of ways the absence of the intimidator is affecting (usually negatively) the rest of the rotation.

Sam

I thought we were getting a handle on this team, but the past week or so has thrown much of it to the wind.

Has Boston been figured out? Or are they themselves just not doing what they were doing before?

I'm under the impression that both factors have played a role in the recent slump. I do realize that slumps are part of the game, but the Washington loss was just bad. The loss to Indiana was expected, but I didn't think it'd be an early blowout.

Crawford and Bradley seem the most comfortable when it comes to taking big shots, but they won't always hit them. But that's where it ends. Sully and Bass can be offensively taken out of the game. Green seems to mentally check out of games if he doesn't get involved early. They need to find a way to use their speed, or they'll keep getting exploited.



KJ

KJ,

I think that what has happened is that the team has settled down to what so many expected it to be at the beginning of the season.  Fans (especially those as rabid as we all are) kept seeing glimmers in the form of modest winning streaks and hoped the Celts were on their way to powering right through those early season myths.  But, depending on what happens when Rondo returns, it appears that glimmers in the form of a few modest winning streaks may be the pinnacle of what to expect this season.  The team is simply not constructed in a way that leads to positive types of consistency—especially when competing against the better teams in the league.

Adversity is when you see what a team is really made of.  And it's also when you see what their fans are made of.  I'm very proud of the mature and positive manner in which this board has refused to cave into a litany of doom and gloom.  The people on this board are true fans and of true Celtics lineage.

Go Celtics!

Sam