Tough December Schedule

[Moranis]

Good start 1-0

Yep. On a given night, I don't really fear any team except for the Warriors and kind of the Nets because of Durant. This stretch is tough but the Celtics need to go into it with the mindset that they're as good as anyone else and use these games to prove it.

The Suns have won 17 in a row and we play them twice.  They are worthy of fear if you are going to fear anyone.

They also have played an easy schedule and Ayton is the only starting that has missed any games (he missed 6 of 21).  All of their other starters have played all 21 games.  Kaminsky and Payne are the only main rotation players to miss some time as well.  They've been pretty darn healthy with an easy schedule.  They are obviously a very good team, but I worry much more about a team like the Bucks than I do the Suns.  Giannis is scary.  Durant is scary.  Phoenix just doesn't have a scary player.  They have a lot of really good players, but no mega star that can drop 50 on you at any time.

At what point do the Suns win enough games for you to begin to take them seriously?  You had them losing every round of the playoffs last year, and then making excuses whenever they won, despite them being the 2 seed (again, by pure accident, because they must have had an easy schedule I guess?).  And now this year.  It's impossible to win 17 games in a row solely on an easy schedule -- nobody gets 17 straight against Houston and Detroit.

That isn't true.  I had them losing to the Lakers and they more than likely would have had Davis not gotten hurt in game 4.  I had them beating Denver without Murray and the Clippers without Leonard.  I have said that if those teams were healthy they probably would have beaten the Suns, but they weren't healthy so it didn't matter.  The Suns got very lucky in their playoff run facing mash units.  When Giannis got back to 100% health, the Suns had no chance.

[ozgod]

I'm guessing it will be 8-7, with us dropping the Utah/Portland back to back, the LAC away game, both Phoenix games, the GSW game, Milwaukee away.

I also looked back and realized if not for our throwing away those 6 games we were in winning positions in (vs NY in 2OT, vs Was in 2OT, vs Chi where we led by 25+ but collapsed in the 4th, vs Dallas where we got Doncic'd, vs Cle where the Cavs won with 2 last second free throws, and vs Spurs where we fell behind by 26, fought back to lead by 7 then were outscored by 15 to lose) we could easily be 17-4 and heading the EC right now. Those losses were not because we got blown away and outplayed for the whole game but where we squandered winning positions and lost key moments in the games.

That's how small the margins are in terms of public perception of this team. They're definitely talented enough and have shown the ability to be better than people think, but their lapses in key moments are why they are where they are, and why they deserve to be where they are. Because they haven't been able to be consistent enough throughout the entire 48 minutes.

I thought we would lose Portland but not Utah, I thought we would win LAL but not LAC. I did get Phoenix right, and I'm still expecting them to win vs Mil at home and lose to GSW. For us to finish 8-7 we would have to beat Mil at home, then the Knicks, Philly, Cleveland (who are playing really well), Minny away and that Clippers at home. But we could just as easily go 4-15 on this stretch with only the Knicks and Minnesota looking like bankable wins coming up

Dec. 2: PHI —> W
Dec. 4: @UTA —> L
Dec. 5: @POR —> W
Dec. 8: @LAL —> L
Dec. 9: @LAC —> L
Dec. 11: @PHX —> L
Dec. 14: MIL
Dec. 18: GSW
Dec. 19: NYK
Dec. 21: PHI
Dec. 23: CLE
Dec. 25: @MIL
Dec. 28: @MIN
Dec. 30: LAC
Dec. 31: PHX

[Birdman]

I said 5-15 before it started and unfortunately I may be right

[mobilija]

4-5 Not awful. If we can come out of this close to .500 (and healthy) we will be in good shape

[4THQTR]

4-5 Not awful. If we can come out of this close to .500 (and healthy) we will be in good shape

5-6 now and I’m hoping they’ll end up 7-8 or better for December (I think both the MIN and LAC games are certainly winnable, while MIL and PHX will be tough).

Covid has been shaking things up across the league, but if the Cs can get healthy, I‘m still optimistic about them climbing up the standings with a much easier schedule over the next couple of months.

[Celtics2021]

We'll learn a lot about the team by NYE, and I honestly believe that if we're 20-16 at the end of 2021 that we're on pace to be a top 3 team in the conference, even if we won't be there in the standings yet, and 18-18 or better puts us solidly in the top 6.

Still have a chance to get to 20-16 and make me feel as if we’re a top 3 team in the East.  Finishing out the month at .500 would be fine too, especially since this prediction didn’t account for Jaylen missing the West Coast trip (it was made after his initial return).

Close out the month strong, move past Covid, and take off in 2022.  Tough task, but within the team’s capabilities.

[ozgod]

I'm guessing it will be 8-7, with us dropping the Utah/Portland back to back, the LAC away game, both Phoenix games, the GSW game, Milwaukee away.

I also looked back and realized if not for our throwing away those 6 games we were in winning positions in (vs NY in 2OT, vs Was in 2OT, vs Chi where we led by 25+ but collapsed in the 4th, vs Dallas where we got Doncic'd, vs Cle where the Cavs won with 2 last second free throws, and vs Spurs where we fell behind by 26, fought back to lead by 7 then were outscored by 15 to lose) we could easily be 17-4 and heading the EC right now. Those losses were not because we got blown away and outplayed for the whole game but where we squandered winning positions and lost key moments in the games.

That's how small the margins are in terms of public perception of this team. They're definitely talented enough and have shown the ability to be better than people think, but their lapses in key moments are why they are where they are, and why they deserve to be where they are. Because they haven't been able to be consistent enough throughout the entire 48 minutes.

I thought we would lose Portland but not Utah, I thought we would win LAL but not LAC. I did get Phoenix right, and I'm still expecting them to win vs Mil at home and lose to GSW. For us to finish 8-7 we would have to beat Mil at home, then the Knicks, Philly, Cleveland (who are playing really well), Minny away and that Clippers at home. But we could just as easily go 4-15 on this stretch with only the Knicks and Minnesota looking like bankable wins coming up

Dec. 2: PHI —> W
Dec. 4: @UTA —> L
Dec. 5: @POR —> W
Dec. 8: @LAL —> L
Dec. 9: @LAC —> L
Dec. 11: @PHX —> L
Dec. 14: MIL -> W
Dec. 18: GSW -> L
Dec. 19: NYK -> W
Dec. 21: PHI -> L
Dec. 23: CLE -> W
Dec. 25: @MIL -> L
Dec. 28: @MIN
Dec. 30: LAC
Dec. 31: PHX

So far we're 5-7 and need to win all 3 for my prediction to come true...more realistically we will beat Min and lose to Pho, with the LAC game being a toss up since PG13 is out. So either 6-9 or 7-8 which would have to be a disappointing outcome, taking into account we didn't expect so many absences due to Covid. But then again some of our opponents are dealing with the same issue, so we can't use it as an excuse. Against this type of opposition we're hovering around the .500 mark which is really where we are as a team over the season - inconsistent. Able to beat the likes of Phi and Mil one night and losing to others on alternative nights and not really at the level of teams like Pho and GS. Disappointing but not really surprising.

Again, I will say that we have had at least 8 losses which were definite missed opportunities, where we controlled most of the game and lost: vs NY in 2OT, vs Was in 2OT, vs Chi where we led by 25+ but collapsed in the 4th, vs Dallas where we got Doncic'd, vs Cle where the Cavs won with 2 last second free throws, vs Spurs where we fell behind by 26, fought back to lead by 7 then were outscored by 15 to lose, vs Phi where we got Embiided in the last few minutes after controlling the game, and against Mil where we were leading by 19 and lost. You could probably throw in the Clips game in LA where we lost by 3.

If we had won those as good teams do when they control the game and lead in the final moments, we would have 8 or 9 more wins in the win column and be 24-9 or 25-8 which would be top of the conference. Even if we only win half of those games we would still be 20-13, still good for 4th. Those are the margins between being an average team and a good team in the Eastern Conference today 

[Birdman]

Looks like a 5-15 record to me

Dang unfortunately look like I was right..

[jambr380]

Looks like a 5-15 record to me

Dang unfortunately look like I was right..

Did you mean 5-10, or did the Cs drop another 5 games just for the heck of it?

[Birdman]

Looks like a 5-15 record to me

Dang unfortunately look like I was right..

Did you mean 5-10, or did the Cs drop another 5 games just for the heck of it?

Haha I meant 5-10.. but the way they playing, it might be 15

[mobilija]

Looks like a 5-15 record to me

Dang unfortunately look like I was right..

6-9 Negative Nancy!