Meaningless Game, But Critical

[bballee]

Time To Put Up or Shut Up

This game following the Nets debacle is meaningless but how the Celtics respond to their woodshed arse-whipping is critical.  There is no single "cause" for the lackluster (perhaps too kind a word) play of the past two months.  Certainly the injuries have sapped firepower and continuity.  Yes the full cast has yet to put in a full week, much less an entire week at full strength.  Flu has made the rounds, old joints are creaking through the winter, and the appetites have been slaked by the 2008 title.  True, it is usually harder to stay on top than it is to break through.  It seems obvious on most nights that this team runs a little slower and jumps a bit lower than the opposition.

Bottom line is that these are facts, but they are facts that should not keep a championship caliber team from playing winning ball.  These proven warriors are capable of playing smarter, cage-ier ball against their younger opponents.  Faster doesn't win the race when they have to travel a greater distance.  Jumping higher doesn't get the rebound when they are blocked out of position, nor does it block the shot when ball movement has created a wide open look.  These antiques need more breaks, and more often; but the supporting cast was assembled to allow this luxury.  So far the players haven't employed their experience to play the crisp ball that would encourage their coach to extend their rests.  A veteran team shouldn't play sloppy ball.  These aren't foolish rookies out there who are throwing the ball away with such frightening frequency.

Is it really true that things have reached the stage when those veterans say the right things but can't, or won't, do them?  Has Celtic pride perished along with personal pride?  Can they rediscover the will to win, and to refuse to lose?

In an eighty-two game season this upcoming match against Detroit has little meaning.  However, in the wake of the embarrassing loss to the woeful Nets, how our Green Warriors respond will speak volumes.  This team is in danger of accepting their mortality and rolling over like a whipped dog whose spirit is broken.  Wednesday night will either be the start of a turnaround, or the beginning of the fall off the cliff to oblivion.  Can Do, or Has Been?  The choice is pretty much in their hands.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Next game will be as "critical" as the one that follows it. This is just pure meaningless drama going on.

[Eja117]

I don't know. how the team responds to being whipped by one of the worst teams in NBA history when they know people are questioning their heart may mean a little more than average.

[vinnie]

Next game will be as "critical" as the one that follows it. This is just pure meaningless drama going on.

I don't get why you think this is meaningless drama? This team stinks right now.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Next game will be as "critical" as the one that follows it. This is just pure meaningless drama going on.

I don't get why you think this is meaningless drama? This team stinks right now.

Because I don't care if they stink right now. I care if they stink a month or so from now. And for the last 2 weeks or so, barring the Pierce injury that gave us our most recent setback, I've seen too many positives of what this team has in it's arsenal to sound the apocalyptic horns that some of you want to propagate.

"The Lakers game is critical!" Well, we beat them. Then we lose to the Nets. How critical was that Lakers game then? See, meaningless drama. All this crap about a certain game being critical because some of us fans suddenly denote a game as such is complete meaningless drama worthy of ESPN marketing crap.

The team needs to get more cohesive, finish games, put a string of wins, etc. etc. No particular game is critical, the team just needs to play better intrinsically.

[BballTim]

Next game will be as "critical" as the one that follows it. This is just pure meaningless drama going on.

I don't get why you think this is meaningless drama? This team stinks right now.

  Because it's more critical a game for the blog than it is for the team.

[Redz]

Whenever my kids do something they've been told a thousand times not to do I get a little upset, and a little disappointed, but I am always hopeful that the next time they'll get it right.  If I held them accountable for every infraction they ever did, and let it build, it would be pretty miserable around my house all the time.  What I try to do is keep teaching lessons.

Now I know the Celtics aren't kids, but what good is it going to do to beat them up over what's happened in the past? Either they'll learn from it, or they won't, but someone (hopefully Doc) has got to keep trying to teach the lessons. 

[Jon]

Well, hopefully the respond with a ten game winning streak.  If that happens, this could be the game we look back at and say, that was when everything changed. 

Still, I refuse to believe the season is over.  I've seen way too many bizarre things happen in sports to ever rule out a team that is going to make the playoffs, and still has a very real shot at the #2 seed. 

Am I disgusted with how they're playing?  Sure.  Am I willing to put money on them winning #18?  Nope. 

But we still haven't seen this team have 1 game this season where they're whole 9 man rotation is healthy.  I'm at least willing to wait to see what happens when that occurs. 

[vinnie]

Based on the outlook of all of the optimists, the regular season is meaningless and teams only need to play hard for the last month of the season. Also, it is fine to lose to the New Jersey Nets because all of these games are meaningless. I can't wait to see how this works out for the Celts when the playoffs begin. Bottom line is the Celts have rarely been able to beat the good teams this year and they also have lost to the worst. But hey, it's all meaningless.

[Who]

Small steps in the right direction. That's the goal.

Hopefully that will start here against Detroit.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Based on the outlook of all of the optimists, the regular season is meaningless and teams only need to play hard for the last month of the season. Also, it is fine to lose to the New Jersey Nets because all of these games are meaningless. I can't wait to see how this works out for the Celts when the playoffs begin. Bottom line is the Celts have rarely been able to beat the good teams this year and they also have lost to the worst. But hey, it's all meaningless.

The season is not meaningless - calling specific regular season games critical is meaningless.

Teams should not only play hard the last month of the season - But it's quite fine for a team to pace themselves and put priority on getting healthy. You build towards playing at your optimum coming into the playoffs, and yes the Celtics have been doing as much despite the recent setbacks.

It's not fine to lose to the Nets - but, once we get to the playoffs, who cares? What does losing to the Nets actually mean? Just one more loss in the L column, nothing more nothing less. You move on to the next opponent and go from there.

With all that said, in the scheme of things, the important part is how you're playing getting into the playoffs and how you play during the playoffs. So placing X amount of value/weight to some of these individual games and calling them critical is pretty much meaningless. That people try to draw conclusions of how the playoffs will turn out based on them yes is pretty much meaningless.

The do have to turn it around at some point, as I've mentioned elsewhere, believe it or not regardless of what occurred against New Jersey and the Cavs we've started to do so. So I'm not particularly worried on that front at the moment. But going around, in a "yep, tomorrow is a do or die situation for us" manner is wrong in my opinion.

We still have a [dang] good record. We have a lot of talented players on this team. And little by little we're getting healthier and healthier. So yeah, I'm not particularly worried about how critical tomorrow's game is.

And if these games are so critical, why has the critical Lakers game suddenly become meaningless in the eyes of people singing the Celtics doom? Exactly.

Small steps in the right direction. That's the goal.

Hopefully that will start here against Detroit.

Well even though Who might not see eye to eye with me in this situation, I think he pretty much has said the important elements in a short and sweet manner. Small steps in the right direction.

[vinnie]

I just want to be clear. Even though they lost to one of the worst teams in the NBA and were outscored by 28 points by the Cavs in the second half they are starting to show signs of turning things around? These two sad performances followed a 20-point loss in Denver, a total domination over Portland, a squeaker over the Lakers and a mediocre to poor showing in a win over the Kings. I would say they are right where they were before the all star game -- inconsistent and no closer to being an elite team.

[mobilija]

Sports is meaningless drama.It's entertainment.
So I don't buy your meaningless argument. You care about the celtics, you watch the games, you waste time posting on a blog about it so obviously there is some meaning for you.

This upcomming game is just as important as any other game this regular season in that it is eaither a win or a loss. It is more so important to those of us who follow the team closely and like to dissect every nuance either positively or negatively, because of recent comments and feelings made public by some of the players, so yeah the game has importance.

[MattG12]

They're trying to hurt their odds in Vegas so by the time we get to the playoffs "Friends, and others" can bet on them and make a killing. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

I just want to be clear. Even though they lost to one of the worst teams in the NBA and were outscored by 28 points by the Cavs in the second half they are starting to show signs of turning things around? These two sad performances followed a 20-point loss in Denver, a total domination over Portland, a squeaker over the Lakers and a mediocre to poor showing in a win over the Kings. I would say they are right where they were before the all star game -- inconsistent and no closer to being an elite team.

Other than the team playing with more energy overall. Other than the player that just about everyone is saying "if he doesn't play good the Celtics have no chance"... "the Celtics' playoffs success hinges on KG's health" is looking better and better each coming game, and actually playing quite good.

Ray Allen having found his stroke. The bench playing quite solidly. Daniels finally healthy again, and has been having some really good games for us. With all the complains about Sheed, he's been going inside more and more, though I liked his January much more.

So yes, overall there are some very encouraging things to build from going forward. Now there's the X factor of Nate Robinson and see how he accommodates into this team. And of course, the most important part putting it all together and putting a streak of well played full games. At the very least, when the team is on and doing what they should they've looked as good or better than they've all season. But it's not enough, but certainly something to build from. That's still missing, but the tools are there and in place to accomplish it.

So yeah, things are starting to come around particularly in the individual level of some of the main pieces of our team. The rest is a work in progress and quite fixable.