Peter May's Celtic's Outlook

Interesting read:

The Cavs can say they are a better team today -- and they were already better than anyone else in the East. Celtics boss Danny Ainge made a decision: he is going to try to win it with what he has, hoping that the 23-5 team he saw in the first two months of the season is the one that shows up in the postseason, not the one that is under .500 since Christmas. He believes that the Celtics of November-December are still there, somewhere.

But also there are all of the issues surrounding this team prior to the trading deadline. How can they be such a horrible rebounding team? Why can't they take care of the ball? When will Allen start making threes with his customary efficiency? Can Paul Pierce be the go-to guy he was in June 2008 on a regular basis? And, most important of all, can Kevin Garnett stop looking like Long John Silver on the floor and become anything close to what he was two years ago?

Those were all legitimate questions up to 3 p.m. Thursday, and they still are. In the meantime, the Cavaliers improved, which does not make the Celtics' short-term outlook any rosier. And so many Eastern Conference teams will have cap room next summer (the Bulls expertly cleared cap room with two deals) that the long-term outlook doesn't look a whole lot better, either.

Longtime Celtics reporter Peter May is a contributor to ESPNBoston.com.

Tark,
The first preview starts next Thursday.
But the Celtics vs Cavs is the second question. The first one is are Celtics better than Magic or maybe Atl? But those questions are for May and June. For now, lets hope that the team stays healthy and gathers speed of a runaway train with one stop at station 18.

AK

As of today I believe the first playoff question would be Toronto. Orlando likely second.......and Cleveland probably third.

One step at a time........I agree............Go Celtics !

Nothing would please me more than the majority of impartial observers being wrong and banner # 18 being hoisted to the rafters in June.

Regards,

Tark