Softest Stretch of Season Ahead - How Will We Do?

[celticsclay]

Or schedule has been cupcake all season.

Not really. We started the season with a 5 game west coast road trip.

Still, it feels like they haven't played many games against the top-6 teams.

For what its worth ESPN has them 6th in terms of SOS. And they have played MIL, TOR, PHI x2, MIA, DEN x2, LAC, DAL x2, IND so that 11 games against 8 of the 11 best teams record wise in the NBA.

On this list who are truly championship contenders.

Umm obviously Philly, Bucks, and LAC. Most people had Denver pegged as a sleeper preseason as well. I am honestly not sure where you are trying to go with this... do you want them to somehow play the Lakers 8 times?

[footey]

If healthy, I'd go 11-12, but given all the injuries, have to go with the crowd, 9-10.

[celts55]

12-2.

[PhoSita]

I'm gonna say 11-3

That'd put them at 29-10, i.e. 61 win pace about halfway through the season.  Pretty good.

[fairweatherfan]

Or schedule has been cupcake all season.

Not really. We started the season with a 5 game west coast road trip.

Name me who you feel are the top teams in the nba and tell me how many times we have played them. We have/had a cupcake schedule. We should be number 1 in the east due to our trash schedule tbh. Things don’t beat up until after all-star break.


Not to mention we have had a ton of days off.

There are 10 other teams who've won at least 2/3rds of their games and we've played all of them except the Lakers and Rockets, with the Sixers, Nuggets and Mavs played twice. We hung one of the Bucks' 4 losses on them and have played almost half of our West road games already. 3 more road games than home so far. It hasn't been brutal but certainly an above average difficulty.

[PhoSita]

The Celtics have only had a cupcake schedule insofar as almost every other team in the league has also had a cupcake schedule ... part of the reason there are so many teams with very good records right now is that the bottom third of the league is losing a ton.


There are 11 teams right now on pace to win 50+ games, with a 12th team (the Jazz), just a couple percentage points off that pace.

[tstorey_97]

Ultimately, from a number of wins standpoint?

The Celtics are a very good team.  They have weaknesses, but, all others do also.

Last night against the "Lucaless" Mav's:
Tatum - 24
Walker - 32
Brown - 26

Perhaps they lack the size of Giannis, Embiid and Anthony Davis or the all roundness of Kawhi, but, the big three really makes it difficult for opposing coaches.

"Shutting one of the big three down" hasn't really worked yet.

If the Semi-Wanamaker-Kanter...etc bench group can improve some more?

They will win boatloads against middling teams and basically split with the top ones.

55 wins this year.

[keevsnick]

Since we're talking about schedule I just looked and the C's have played 25 games. Which is the lowest number of games played in the league.

[Donoghus]

Since we're talking about schedule I just looked and the C's have played 25 games. Which is the lowest number of games played in the league.

Yeah.  And Charlotte has already played 31.

[CF033]

I predict 10-4 not that I'm usually right.

[keevsnick]

Well with Gasol and Siakim out indefinitely for the Raptors the soft stretch gets softer.

[colincb]

Given the rash of injuries to TOR, 11 - 3 seems like a reasonable bet assuming Cs get a little healthier (i.e., Smart or Hayward comes back soon). Only likely loss is @PHI.

[Csfan1984]

9 and 5 is the safe bet. Just haven't seen enough consistency to expect better and the injuries just won't go away.

[trickybilly]

I went 11.

I tend to believe Kemba, when he says that the chemistry is getting much better.

[fairweatherfan]

Well with Gasol and Siakim out indefinitely for the Raptors the soft stretch gets softer.

Yeah one of the 2 over .500 teams we're playing has its top player and top center out (and Powell who's a rotation guy) makes it feel like an even easier stretch.

But if fans have learned anything about injuries, they usually don't really matter that much in individual games, it's over longer stretches that they tend to add up on a team. Toronto can absolutely beat us one or both times without them.