Race for the 2nd place?

[RodyTur10]

The question is how far Celtics can climb in the standings. I think Boston will get the 2nd place (without major injuries) with only the Raptors above them. It will be very important to finish higher than Philly and Milwaukee for HCA.

[cman88]

as of right now, Celtics are only 2.5 games out of 2nd place

[tazzmaniac]

All the way to the top.  Only 6.5 games behind with 59 games left.   We play the Raptors 2 more times so that's 2 games made up.  ESPN shows us with the 10th hardest schedule so far while the Raptors have the 24th so that'll probably get us another couple games by itself.   

[konkmv]

Why not first??

[Birdman]

i voted 4th..behind Toronto, Milwaukee and 76ers

[Phantom255x]

I voted 2nd. I think Toronto is going to finish with 60-62 wins this season so yeah, they will be the 1st seed and probably take it by a good 8-10 game margin.

But the Celtics are currently 6th in the East and just 2.5 games back of MIL/PHI (both tied for 2nd currently).  Indiana is missing Oladipo for a while now, and I think DET will start to level out a bit (be more of a 6-8 seed).

Hayward is looking like Hayward again and we seem to be figuring things out. When we start to gel better and become more consistent, I think we can get to the 3 seed maybe in a few weeks and then get to 2. But yeah, TOR will run away with the #1 seed barring a major injury.

[CelticSooner]

I’m gonna say they’ll be in 2nd by the end of the month. Really feels like the corner is being turned. Whole team just looked more relaxed last night.

[Moranis]

I took the poll to mean where I expect them to finish, because they can obviously finish in any position. 

[blink]

I said 1st.  I know, I am a homer.  But I just don't think a 6.5 game lead at the start of December is an impossible task.  Plus we have played a lot of road games already. 

Last year we had a lead early in the season in the EC and it didn't matter we didn't end up 1st.  Same thing could happen this year. 

Plus I am not sold on the Bucks / Philly yet.  We have about 2 more gears we can shift into.  If we are able to do that HCA isn't a stretch for this team.

[jambr380]

Yeah, definitely 2nd...which is good...1st has been typically been bad spot in the standings for recent EC competitors. The Cs always need some challenge to overcome; feeling like the underdogs against the Raptors in the EC Finals will be a good place for them.

They really should be able to bounce back to at least the 2-spot and I would consider it a failed season if they are unable to do so (unless of course they go all the way to the Finals  )

[SparzWizard]

If this team gels completely, they can beat the Raptors in Toronto. They're too talented not to.

[GreenEnvy]

We had a relatively tough schedule and still integrating players back. We will start to rattle off wins and climb up. Toronto should come back down to Earth but they should be good for 60. Can we still get there? I think so.

By the end of this calendar year, we will have played 11 of our 15 Western Conference road games, with only the California trip left (two in Northern CA and then two in Staples, nicely arranged).

Still a lot of basketball left to be played. No reason we can’t catch Toronto if we play up to our potential.

[MattyIce]

2 games back from 2cd

[MattyIce]

toronto's next 5

bucks, @clips, @warriors, @blazers, @nuggets,

[tenn_smoothie]

All the way to the top.  Only 6.5 games behind with 59 games left.   We play the Raptors 2 more times so that's 2 games made up.  ESPN shows us with the 10th hardest schedule so far while the Raptors have the 24th so that'll probably get us another couple games by itself.

4 games back - always go by the loss column.