We Are Going to Get Crushed in November. Should it Change Your Mindset?

[Nerf DPOY]

The thread title is pretty self-explanatory. Our first 14 games of the season are as follows

10/29 Brooklyn 
11/1   Houston     
11/3   Dallas         
11/5   Toronto       
11/7   Indiana       
11/8   Chicago     
11/12  OKC         
11/14  Cleveland 
11/17  Phoenix     
11/19  Philly         
11/21 Memphis     
11/23 Portland     
11/28 Chicago     
11/30 San Ant     

Take it in. We play all 3 Texas teams. We play the Cavs and Thunder, and play the Bulls twice. We're obvious underdogs to Memphis and Portland, and obvious underdogs to Toronto and Brooklyn in the eyes of anyone outside this blog; probably Phoenix too. That leaves Indiana and the Sixers. On top of this, Rondo figures to be out half to possibly the entire month. Objectively, Philly's the only game in November where I feel we can go in expecting a win.

So going 2-12, 1-13, or losing out the first 14 games certainly looks like a realistic projection. Do you think it will change how you feel long term about the revolving issues as what to do about Rondo, whether or not you want us to win this year, and what you think about the rest of the roster?

Edit: I totally butchered which games we were home or away, so I just gave up.

[greece66]

We are going to get crushed all season long.
This is the plan. Embrace reality and chill out 

[greece66]

it will be fun to watch KO guard Nowitzki when we play Dallas. I think the kid will be up to the task.

[fairweatherfan]

I disagree, early in the season seems to be when more unusual results happen.  Remember the Sixers started last season by beating the Heat, then two more playoff teams in the Wizards and Bulls to begin 3-0.  Young teams tend to come out with a ton of energy while veteran, talented teams are just easing their way into the season.

I think it's more likely fans will get irrationally optimistic when we beat more of those teams than we might expect, only to get let down later.  But just like being overly pessimistic, it doesn't really matter, so everyone should feel free to do whatever makes em happy.

[Celtics4ever]

I think we will play hard a lot of games but I do not see us winning more than 35 games.  That being said once the games start I never root for us to lose.

[barefacedmonk]

No idea why, but the thread title made me think of this clip (wee bit of profanity):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRyry_B7TY

[manl_lui]

The thread title is pretty self-explanatory. Our first 14 games of the season are as follows

10/29 Brooklyn 
11/1   Houston     
11/3   Dallas         
11/5   Toronto       
11/7   Indiana       
11/8   Chicago     
11/12  OKC         
11/14  Cleveland 
11/17  Phoenix     
11/19  Philly         
11/21 Memphis     
11/23 Portland     
11/28 Chicago     
11/30 San Ant     

Take it in. We play all 3 Texas teams. We play the Cavs and Thunder, and play the Bulls twice. We're obvious underdogs to Memphis and Portland, and obvious underdogs to Toronto and Brooklyn in the eyes of anyone outside this blog; probably Phoenix too. That leaves Indiana and the Sixers. On top of this, Rondo figures to be out half to possibly the entire month. Objectively, Philly's the only game in November where I feel we can go in expecting a win.

So going 2-12, 1-13, or losing out the first 14 games certainly looks like a realistic projection. Do you think it will change how you feel long term about the revolving issues as what to do about Rondo, whether or not you want us to win this year, and what you think about the rest of the roster?

Edit: I totally butchered which games we were home or away, so I just gave up.

no, again we are rebuilding...do you expect us to be an elite team in year 2 of a rebuild? we all expect us to be between 25-35 win team anyways...at least most of us

Rondo might be out for the time being but whatever, if he is out for that time, let's hope Marcus Smart can use that time as much as possible to prove that he is part of our future and absorb as much as he can...it'll be an interesting 18 games with him playing with the elites

[D.o.s.]

Watching the Celtics lose always sucks, regardless of how good the team is.

[Who]

That is a rough way to start the season. Looks like 2 or 3 wins against 11 or 12 losses.

[greece66]

I think we will play hard a lot of games but I do not see us winning more than 35 games.  That being said once the games start I never root for us to lose.

I fully agree that 35 is the upper limit.
I have a question for you though- say we had to lose the last couple of games of the season to be in the six worst teams that get roughly 12% of getting draft pick nr 1. I will be rooting like hell for us to lose. And I am fully confident that this team knows how to lose  with style when the circumstances demand for it.
PS Philly lost 26 in a row. I am not asking that much, but just  a bit of good old fashioned cynicism when it comes to grabbing the next generation of All Star players.

[wdleehi]

I think we will play hard a lot of games but I do not see us winning more than 35 games.  That being said once the games start I never root for us to lose.

I fully agree that 35 is the upper limit.
I have a question for you though- say we had to lose the last couple of games of the season to be in the six worst teams that get roughly 12% of getting draft pick nr 1. I will be rooting like hell for us to lose. And I am fully confident that this team knows how to lose  with style when the circumstances demand for it.
PS Philly lost 26 in a row. I am not asking that much, but just  a bit of good old fashioned cynicism when it comes to grabbing the next generation of All Star players.

Never want to see the coaches or players to play to lose.  Too many bad habits are picked up this way.



I do have no problem with the team pulling guys with nagging injuries late in the season from meaningless games (if the Celtics are truly out of playoff contention at that point)

[greece66]

Never want to see the coaches or players to play to lose. 

Me neither. This is tanking the wrong way. The right way is to
- give more opportunities to young players
- try out new formations/systems in the middle of the season
- trade a few players for draft picks/future assets (Crawford was doing a pretty good job last year)
If you think about it, we tanked in a major way the second half of last year's season.

[aingeforthree]

I have us with 7 wins during that stretch. 

Brooklyn
Toronto
Indiana
Phoenix
Philly
Memphis
Portland

It's a team game and although we won't be hitting on all cylinders then, neither will anybody else.  We can beat those 7 teams at home or away.  The talent is here to beat them, & the right coach is here as well.  The toughest win out of the 7 will be Memphis IMO, & I think we knock them off.

[pearljammer10]

I have us with 7 wins during that stretch. 

Brooklyn
Toronto
Indiana
Phoenix
Philly
Memphis
Portland

It's a team game and although we won't be hitting on all cylinders then, neither will anybody else.  We can beat those 7 teams at home or away.  The talent is here to beat them, & the right coach is here as well.  The toughest win out of the 7 will be Memphis IMO, & I think we knock them off.

I have us with this an add a Dallas win.

[DarkAzcura]

The November schedule scared me at first..really thought it could potentially de-rail the Celtics season...then once Rondo got hurt, I became even more scared, heh. That schedule scares me mainly because I'm unsure whether the team could recover mentally from starting really, really poorly.

I hope I'm wrong.