I'm sorry, but we will be the 2nd seed

[throwedoff]

Lol wow ya'll really care about the number 1 seed like we didn't get to the finals last year without it I would rather us be healthy for the playoffs then rush players back from injury for seeding

[zerophase]

Forget Miami and Orlando, I do not want to play on the road in Chicago. Our outlook as the 2nd seed against Chicago would be bad.

[aporel#18]

There is no "easy" game if the Celtics don't play like it's meant. Best case scenario, the Celtics are #1 out of the East, and only second to San Antonio (it'll be hard to pass them for #1 overall).

If things don't go so well, the Celtics could end with 2nd or 3rd record in the East. If they hold HCA against the Lakers, it's OK with me.

I'll enjoy watching the games, this Celtics team is great and I'm not worried about any team. If the Celtics are healthy and playing their game, there's no better team. It's good to be a Celtics fan.

[Tai]

Forget Miami and Orlando, I do not want to play on the road in Chicago. Our outlook as the 2nd seed against Chicago would be bad.

If we're not the better team, it doesn't matter. Bottom line is, we need to win on the road against every team we face in the playoffs, not just the teams we'll be able to have the first two home games against. Like they say, that's when playoffs really get real.

[droopdog7]

Forget Miami and Orlando, I do not want to play on the road in Chicago. Our outlook as the 2nd seed against Chicago would be bad.

If we're not the better team, it doesn't matter. Bottom line is, we need to win on the road against every team we face in the playoffs, not just the teams we'll be able to have the first two home games against. Like they say, that's when playoffs really get real.

But what if we're even or only slightly better. That was pretty much the case iagainst he lakers and look who celebrated. Just because we came out of the east last year as a 4th seed doesn't mean we can do it again.  Having to win on the road is more difficult no matter how you slice it. So to me, if we are in position to get #1 seed, we need to try to go for it.

[droopdog7]

We effectively have a 2 game lead in the loss column over CHI.  They have 1 more loss than us, and we have an even more comfortable lead in the tiebreaker (conf record).  If we beat them in the our last matchup then the tiebreaker is guaranteed.  I still feel confident we'll hang on to #1 in the east.

What's the point of having a better record than LAL or DAL if you don't make it out of the east?  That's not a given if we don't lock up #1 ECF.  But I think it's very likely if we do secure #1 ECF. 

Not for nothing, but didn't we effectively have a four game lead in the loss column two games ago?  Optimism is great, but two games just isn't a big enough lead to me to have any degree of confidence.  Hopefully this all comes down to the Chicago game later in the season, but I worry that that game may be meaningless.  Our team is banged up right now, and as a consequence we're losing games in the easiest part of our schedule, while Chicago continues to play well.

FYI, we are only ONE game ahead of Chi in the loss column (and half game overall).  So it isn't looking good.

Anyone know anything about tie breakers after head to head, which could be even if Chi beat us the next time?

[fairweatherfan]

We effectively have a 2 game lead in the loss column over CHI.  They have 1 more loss than us, and we have an even more comfortable lead in the tiebreaker (conf record).  If we beat them in the our last matchup then the tiebreaker is guaranteed.  I still feel confident we'll hang on to #1 in the east.

What's the point of having a better record than LAL or DAL if you don't make it out of the east?  That's not a given if we don't lock up #1 ECF.  But I think it's very likely if we do secure #1 ECF.  

Not for nothing, but didn't we effectively have a four game lead in the loss column two games ago?  Optimism is great, but two games just isn't a big enough lead to me to have any degree of confidence.  Hopefully this all comes down to the Chicago game later in the season, but I worry that that game may be meaningless.  Our team is banged up right now, and as a consequence we're losing games in the easiest part of our schedule, while Chicago continues to play well.

FYI, we are only ONE game ahead of Chi in the loss column (and half game overall).  So it isn't looking good.

Anyone know anything about tie breakers after head to head, which could be even if Chi beat us the next time?

Shameless plug right here

[birdwatcher]

Don't let the sky fall just yet. Our defense is getting better, we held Philly to 10 pts below their average. We out rebounded a team that is tied for 8th in the league in overall rebounding, the overrated Krstic leading the way. Even though Spencer Hawes had a career night, I thought Nenad challenged a lot of his shots and give Hawes credit, he hit his shots. KG and Ray Allen's shots weren't falling and Pierce didn't take enough shots which is probably due to Iggy's defense. Our bench stepped up and given that we're still missing some key players, I don't think we're in a free fall. Let's worry about the #1 seed when the playoffs start, and focus on getting this team together for the real fight--the playoffs. Going through Chicago isn't ideal, but we've gone through worse.

[chambers]

well look at this way.
The next 9 games are:
bucks
nets
pacers
rockets
hornets
knicks
grizzlies
bobcats
wolves
pacers again..

We have an easy schedule for the next 9 games.
That tougher run is going to suck..but if things go according to plan (knock on wood) then Shaq,baby, delonte and hopefully JO will be back by the hard stretch and our new players will have played 20 games by then which makes this last regular season stretch look much more doable.

So you're saying road B2B's at nets, hornets, then 1 day off before @ Knicks, and then another road B2B @ pacers is "easy"?

Rockets are 7-3 and haven't lost at home since the allstar break.

Looks like a tough stretch to me - I hope the team doesn't see it your way...

Obviously the team hasn't done well on back to backs, but i would much rather play those teams then our later schedule of top tier teams on a back to back stretch.
We are favorites in every one of those games you listed.
Of course they'll be tough but we should still pull out wins in the large majority of them.
We have the supporting cast to help us for this tough stretch now and if we can have them(green and krstic) on the floor with baby and shaq with our starters playing half decently we should be able to pull off quite few solid wins.
I hope the team doesn't see it your way and go into panic mode at a few back to backs vs average teams.

[slamtheking]

Chicago's schedule is much more favorable than ours, and if we continue playing like this, then we certainly won't be the #1 seed come playoff time.

I don't care about holding players out just because it is still the regular season. They all say that if it were the playoffs, they would play. BS! If you really care, then you have to open your eyes and realize that we will be the 2nd seed if guys don't come back and start playing. Unless they want to play Miami in the 2nd round, all the "holding out for the playoffs to get them fully healthy" has to stop!

yup, you should definitely be sorry for that load of blasphemy.  C's will keep the #1 seed.

[Moranis]

2nd, I wouldn't be surprised if the C's dropped to 3rd.  Miami also has a more favorable schedule.  April 7 and April 10 will be huge games for Boston.

[gar]

Everyone can read the future now! Maybe we should all go into the stock market.

[barefacedmonk]

I'm sorry, but we will be the 2nd seed

[pearljammer10]

Yawn.

[Prof. Clutch]

If we are, why would you feel the need to be sorry.  We weren't the first seed last year when we went to the finals.