Calm down everyone, well be fine

[Tgro]

Considering we just played 2 upper echelon teams toe to toe in their own courts without Pierce. Withstood their offensive barrages along with absolutely criminal one sided officiating in both games, while being down by at least 17 in both games and coming back in both and lost both by only a handful of points, I think it's hard not to come out of this not seeing a lot of positives here. I really think unlike previous years where we started well and then tanked as the year progressed, I think this year we start off struggling and just keep getting better. We haven't played at home yet or with a full roster. You'd be hard pressed to find a tougher opening 2 game schedule than what the Celtics just had. I think we could have looked a lot worse than what we have. I'm optimistic we're going to turn this thing around. The desire on this team seems strong. Once they gel, I don't think they're going to be bad at all. 

[ianboyextreme]

Considering we just played 2 upper echelon teams toe to toe in their own courts without Pierce. Withstood their offensive barrages along with absolutely criminal one sided officiating in both games, while being down by at least 17 in both games and coming back in both and lost both by only a handful of points, I think it's hard not to come out of this not seeing a lot of positives here. I really think unlike previous years where we started well and then tanked as the year progressed, I think this year we start off struggling and just keep getting better. We haven't played at home yet or with a full roster. You'd be hard pressed to find a tougher opening 2 game schedule than what the Celtics just had. I think we could have looked a lot worse than what we have. I'm optimistic we're going to turn this thing around. The desire on this team seems strong. Once they gel, I don't think they're going to be bad at all. 

Yeah, and theyre already gelling. When Dooling, Bass, Rondo, Ray, and KG were on the floor together, it was really cohesive and we were getting a lot of open looks. It just had a real nice flow.

[j804]

I agree we will be fine. I just watched the last 6 minutes of the game again and we clamped down on them by zoning and were in position to steal this (without Pierce or Pietrus). It was a 3pt game when Rondo made the awful nearly full court pass that's picked we could have been within 2. All the while Lebron and Wade down the stretch it seems darn near checked out, you could see it they were confused jacking up long jumpers LBJ didn't even want the ball. If we had Pierce who gives us what we are sorely lacking a go to scorer that's gonna create his shot and more we probably win this game.

I am optimistic about us even sitting at 0-2 as crazy as that sounds.

[Bahku]

I'm not worried in the least ... we had a good chance to steal a game in Miami without our superstar player, and while playing pretty poor defense by our standards. The Heat acted like they won the trophy, but if Pierce had been healthy, this game would've easily been ours.

We're deep this year with some great weapons, and as I just heard chronic Celtic-hater Charles Barkley say: "I don't know why they were considering trading Rondo, cuz that kid is incredible!" Well-said, Chuck ... I'm lovin' this team this season, despite the two-loss start.

[celticslove]

i'm just wondering, would it kill doc if he try and play some of them rooks? also i was thinking steimsma can actually help defensively than the disappointing JO.

[ACF]

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Tough beat for Boston. Will be fine once Pierce, Pietrus get into the lineup. Size still an issue. JO: no points, one rebound.

Chris Mannix and I agree with the OP as well.

yeah, so far I think the only thing we can be sure of is that JO looks just about done and this team desperately lacks a true center.  otherwise, they've played two very good teams and been in it at the end despite missing their best offensive player.

the fact that JO looks like a complete non-factor is a pretty serious concern, though.  we really need to be getting production from a guy who plays 20+ minutes a night.  without JO, this team is totally lacking in size.

Eric Dampier? Mbenga? JO is that bad I don't see how it hurts

He is a non factor because they are not using him right. In my opinion and what I see the Celtics are trying to make JO play like Perk, and he's no Perk.

He rarely gets touches, no post plays, nothing. He's just a guy who sets screens and tries for rebounds. They should let him be part of the offense. Post him up. Let him do what he does best albeit he's not as quick as he was before. He has a good mid range game, let him pick and pop. Bring JO to the offense, and not like Perk who just sets picks and understandably so.

But I will not give him a pass on the defensive end though. He has to do a better job boxing out.

[Eja117]

How dare you tell me to calm down sir. I am a fan and I expect nothing but a 25 point win by the Celtics each game. It is my right!!!

This post makes a good point. It's how I feel about supporting a QB who struggles to hit 50% of his passes.

[CFAN38]

Im happy with the team right not,

Rondo and Ray are playing great

Dooling and Bass look good off the bench

KG looks old but it might just take a while for him to get in shape and up to game speed

JO is the only real negative for me right now

[arctic 3.0]

I'm confident,
we've played the first two games with out our first or second string small forward.
rondo looks great, ray as well, bass and dooling are good pick ups.
less encouraging, JO better pick it up a notch or were going to see a lot of small ball...

[dark_lord]

lol, tp

[dark_lord]

the one thing that makes me think we are ok is that we are missing pierce and green/pietrus.  aside from missing our best player, the last two games posed very difficult matchups for us at that position.  having to worry about melo and lebron, relying on sasha and marquis is pretty difficult.  i dont think we can win the title, but i still think we are a top 4 team in the east with an outside shot to go deep in the post season, but to do so, we need to be healthy.

[Dr H]

My expectations were grim before the season started, now here's what I see/my thoughts on the team so far

-Hope for success
-A lot of people looking at the points they gave up..how about that offense? When's the last time we scored 100+ in back to back games? Even with the losses the games are just more fun to watch when they score 100+ compared to last year barely being able to put up 85 pts.
-About that defense - the Celtics play as a TEAM. They've barely had any practice time/training camp time..they need time to piece it all together. They've played 2 teams who both rely on a LOT of individual, superstar talent...of course the talent is going to beat a team that can't fully play as a team  yet.
-They've scored this much without the Captain. I'm not saying they'll score more once he comes back, but it's definitely nice to see/watch.
-No way Miami would've scored even as remotely close to what they did last night without all of Bostons foolish passes - both cross court skip passes and short passes right into a defenders body..
-I'm not sure if it was just me but it really seemed most of the loose balls went in Miami's direction.
-It's great to know that Dooling can knock down the open 3/jumper..now let's just hope he brings consistency.

With all that said it's hard to even think that this team is "toast" because I sure as hell am as surprised as could be about this team so far. So far we've had no problem putting the ball in the basket and that's without Pierce and our supposed 6th man in Jeff Green. Give this team time to get healthy(Pierce Wilcox Pietrus), and time to jel and I can't wait for the result.

[chambers]

My expectations were grim before the season started, now here's what I see/my thoughts on the team so far

-Hope for success
-A lot of people looking at the points they gave up..how about that offense? When's the last time we scored 100+ in back to back games? Even with the losses the games are just more fun to watch when they score 100+ compared to last year barely being able to put up 85 pts.
-About that defense - the Celtics play as a TEAM. They've barely had any practice time/training camp time..they need time to piece it all together. They've played 2 teams who both rely on a LOT of individual, superstar talent...of course the talent is going to beat a team that can't fully play as a team  yet.
-They've scored this much without the Captain. I'm not saying they'll score more once he comes back, but it's definitely nice to see/watch.
-No way Miami would've scored even as remotely close to what they did last night without all of Bostons foolish passes - both cross court skip passes and short passes right into a defenders body..
-I'm not sure if it was just me but it really seemed most of the loose balls went in Miami's direction.
-It's great to know that Dooling can knock down the open 3/jumper..now let's just hope he brings consistency.

With all that said it's hard to even think that this team is "toast" because I sure as hell am as surprised as could be about this team so far. So far we've had no problem putting the ball in the basket and that's without Pierce and our supposed 6th man in Jeff Green. Give this team time to get healthy(Pierce Wilcox Pietrus), and time to jel and I can't wait for the result.

TP.
Exactly right. People always hit the panic switch but we've played two tough teams on their courts.
Scored over 100 in both and shown that our defense can still stop any offense when we want to.

20 games from now we should be looking at a very nice contender. Lets just hope Pierce and Pietrus can come in and contribute defensively whilst giving us a nice 25-30 PPG combined per night.

[Moranis]

Defensively the Celtics are old and slow.  And I'm not buying the excuse that they didn't have practice as most of the players were on the team last year and know how to play with each other already.  This is only going to get worse as the season wears on.  The team needs young players with energy, something it just doesn't have and is not going to have by the end of the season without trades.

Rondo is the Celtics best player without question and the team is 0-2 against elite teams after getting out to very slow starts.  Is this a function of the team or just a couple of slow starts?  That will be worth watching.  I tend to think the makeup of the team and the style of offense being is run is the reason the team is starting off slowly, only time will tell.

The Celtics will not beat the Heat in the post season with the team as presently constructed (even with Pierce and Pietrus).  The Heat are just too good and the Celtics are going to wear down in games at the end of the year as a result of their age.