FanPost

View From Vacationland: The Road So Far

 

I have restrained from writing any posts about the 2009-2010 Boston Celtics because it was ridiculously early and difficult to extrapolate to the entire season based on a handful of games. It's still early, but we have more than a handful of games, and I decided it was time to go ahead and take the plunge.

 

And, I have to say, sixteen games in I am impressed.

Do the Celtics have areas that are cause for concern? Of course they do. Any team does. But are they a great team and one that I think, unchanged in personnel, will do well in the playoffs.

 

It's true that the past two years the Celtics started 14-2 rather than 12-4 - but either of those years the team could have easily been 11-5. In both years, three of those fourteen wins were by less than five points. It's also worth pointing out that this year no team has started 14-2. In fact, in general the league has been more competitive this year, with many games between good and bad teams often being closer. Just look at the Lakers: they started off the season by only beating the Clippers by seven points. A week later, they defeated Oklahoma City by three points, Houston by one, and Memphis by six. Oh, and their game two loss to Dallas was by 14 points. The big difference between the Celtics and the Lakers?

 

The Lakers started the season in a slump, while the Celtics just fell into one. 

 

The Lakers could have easily started the year 3-3 (like the much-heralded Cavaliers did) instead of 5-1. The Celtics, meanwhile, began the season 6-0 winning games by an average of 18 points. In those first few games, were the Celtics dominating the league? You bet. Was there any reason to think they'd continue at that pace all year? Of course not.

 

The Celtics' recent slump has been disturbing, to be sure. It has not, though, been a sign of impending doom, While it would have been way better to see the Celts beat the Knicks, 76ers, and Raptors by 30 points instead of an average of 6 points, it is important to remember one thing:

 

They still won.

 

To me, one of the signs of a good team in the NBA has always been that when they struggle they still win games, even if not by large margins. The Celtics, even as they played down to mediocre (or terrible) teams, have generally not been losing to them. Three of their four losses were to quality teams: Phoenix, Atlanta, and Orlando will all be in the playoffs. While the Celtics definitely have to step it up and start beating the league's other top-notch teams, they have time.

 

The Celtics won't be facing another team like those three for a while. Their next opponent who's already won more than 10 is Orlando on Christmas Day. In between they play a handful of terrible teams (Washington, Memphis, Philadelphia, Minnesota) and a host of mediocre teams on either side of the .500 barrier.

 

There were already signs in the 116-103 win over Toronto on Friday night that the Celtics were beginning to regain their confidence. If the Celtics defense can look more like it did in the second half of that game, rather than the first, we should see a very impressive record for this team in the month of December.

 

FanPosts are fan-created content and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CelticsBlog. Be respectful and keep it clean. Thanks.