Have the Celtics become a 'litmus test' for other teams?

[Greyman]

Could the Celtics be considered a good gauge for other teams to asses how they are traveling? Do other teams look at how their nearest rivals played against the Cs?

I ask because I have started to asses other teams chances based on what I see against the Cs.

I know the NBA can be a crazy topsy turvy world where all sorts of upsets occur. My recent read on games though has been that we are losing to teams that are true contenders and beating teams that will make up the numbers or miss the POs.

Thoughts?

[Al91]

I don't know. I've begun thinking that any NBA team can beat any other NBA team on any given night. It's unlikely that the Knicks or Magic can beat the top tier teams but I watched on as the Sixers almost topped the Thunder in regulation last week and could have had the game in OT also.

If your question is a compliment to the Cs, then yes, I do think the Celtics are a team they can test themselves and evaluate others on. This is a decent team. Better in a variety of ways than the team that began the year with Rondo and Green. This team has shown that they can put up great quarters against some of the best teams one day and get blown out by the same top tier teams the next. I think the Celtics are a scary team to face if you're on the edge of playoffs in either conference.

The Suns beating the Nets last night was huge for a Celtics playoff push, just as the Celtics beating the Pelicans was big for the Suns and the Thunder. I've been so impressed with this team as of late that I'm actually rooting for them to meet the playoffs...even if they're swept first round. If they don't make it to playoffs I'm still happy though, betters our chances of grabbing a C in the draft.

[Greyman]

I like to think that, even if we fall short of the playoffs, we are going to affect the chances of a number of other teams. We could be playing almost dead rubbers but the team has made themselves relevant.

[mr. dee]

And Sixers just beat Atlanta recently. The real test is the playoffs.