I hope I don't sound like I'm trying to make excuses for the Celtics, but here's the reality of the season so far:

The Celtics have had 27 games against teams with .500+ records.That's more than the rest of the Atlantic Division. Only 1 team in the NBA has faced more .500+ teams than the Celtics so far this season (The Denver Nuggets).

Since the Kevin Garnett era, the Celtics have never made the playoffs without winning the Atlantic Division. The Celtics are 9-14 against winning teams (that's a winning percentage of 39.1%), the Nets are 8-14 against winning teams (36.36%), and the Knicks are 9-10 against winning teams (47.37%).

The issue is that the Celtics aren't beating teams that they "should" be beating, at a better rate than the Knicks and Nets. The Celtics have had 17 games against teams with losing records in which the Celtics are only 11-6 (64.71%). The Nets are 17-2 (89.46%), the Knicks are 16-4 (80%).

Against losing teams, the Celtics put up 97.1 points, but they allow their opponents to score 95.2 points, shooting 44% from the field. That's only a point differential of +1.1. The Knicks are putting up point differentials of +8.4 against losing teams, and the Nets are putting up point differentials of +9.7.

Last season, the Celtics were 21-7 against losing teams which amounted to a winning percentage of 75%. The year before that, the Celtics were 31-11 against losing teams, (73.81%). In the 2009-2010 season they were 28-10 (73.68%). During the 2008-2009 season, the Celtics were 38-7 (82.93%). During the 2007-2008 season, the Celtics were 46-5 (90.20%).

The Boston Celtics need to hammer down on the losing teams. Even the Dallas Mavericks (18-24) have a better winning percentage against losing teams than the Celtics.

The next losing team the Celtics have are the Cavaliers. This team let Paul Pierce go off for 40 points in 33 minutes. I hope this upcoming game proves beneficial for Pierce who is going through a shooting slump, as well as end the 3-game losing streak that the Celtics are on.

What are your thoughts? Can the Celtics turn this season around? Can they finally start stepping up against these winning teams? Are trades inevitable?