Celtics remaining schedule

TS Eliot: "April is the cruelest month."

This may be true for the Celts. What a tough schedule they face. Sixteen games left, among them 1 against Minnesota, 3 against the Heat, 1 against Chicago, 1 against Philly, 1 against Orlando, and 2 against the Hawks. Yikes!

Still, wounded as it is, the team is playing great, 13-5 since the All Star break. I'm hoping for a repeat of 1969.

Nice, lots of good warm up for the playoffs

It's not who they're playing so much as how many games they play. They play 12 games in a 17-day stretch from April 4 to April 20, including three back-to-backs plus one back-to-back-to-back.

Doc will have to manage their minutes particularly carefully. Personally, I like Gregg Popovich's approach -- he's not timid about sitting his veterans for a game or two, and he doesn't care one bit if his team gets blown out in a particular game because he's sitting people.

Given the upcoming schedule, I'd expect Doc to make less of a push to win the division than he ordinarily might. If Philly helps out by losing some games, great, but I believe he's said on numerous occasions that he's not worried about taking a lower playoff seed to be in better position health-wise. It might be disheartening to fans to see the Celts go 8-7 in April and wind up a couple games behind the Sixers, but I won't be surprised if that's what happens.

Outside

I expect the same...health is Doc's #1 priority going into the playoffs, not seed.

One thing that's almost never mentioned in conversations such as this is the team's playing style.

Earlier in the season, their style had them pacing themselves at the beginning of games, falling behind (often way behind), scrambling like banshees to catch up, and (at least as often as not) suffering the debilitation of defeat.

Lately, they're using their early-in-the-game energy to get out to a substantial lead, coasting along as the opponent does the fatiguing banshee drill, and having a reserve of energy for a successful stretch run.

The recent approach has worked well against teams that aren't front-runners, and it has enlisted the early energy of Avery Bradley. I'm anxious to see how it fares against the iron of the league and with Ray most likely replacing Avery in the starting lineup.

Sam