if brad navigates us through this injury

[rollie mass]

he gets coach of the year
-if turner and smart step up-turner gets 6th man award and smart makes all defensive team
 cody clarke is 6-7 and tough can hit the three
rozier will get time now and mickey

[CelticPride2016]

This is true and making the end of season more special. Hopefully this stops at Olynyk and Crowder. If those guys were healthy, we wouldn't be biting nails over the tough remaining schedule.

I am looking at the schedule. In one month the season ends on April 13th. That's 16 games. Yikes?

I do not know how other teams are for injuries.

at Indiana --- even the most diehard Celtics fan cannot guarantee this one a win. We are missing Olynyk and Crowder.

Oklahoma at home, then at Toronto

The next three games are close to brutal.

Then Philadelphia.

The rest of it has great, average, and poor teams sprinkled in.

I will not hold it against the team's overall chances if they slide in at the fourth or fifth playoff position as long as they get healthy.

We need every player or we are mediocre, not bad, but not in the top 8 for NBA teams like we were.

Maybe we will surprise in some of these tough games. It will be because of Brad Stevens knowing how to adjust the rotations.

I just don't see how the guy from Golden State doesn't get coach of the year.

They are 59-6.

It could be bad timing this year for Stevens, but he should dominate top votes unless we fall apart.

Maybe we do well without Crowder. We are very good. The players know he will be back. These injuries should make us stronger for the playoffs. Zeller is a mystery. One never knows. I thought Rasheed Wallace was awful in the regular season, then all of a sudden he was solid in playoff games.

All this is very interesting. I've a funny feeling we might make it to the Finals or the round before it. We're not getting swept in the first round. I have confidence in that.

[Smitty77]

This is true and making the end of season more special. Hopefully this stops at Olynyk and Crowder. If those guys were healthy, we wouldn't be biting nails over the tough remaining schedule.

I am looking at the schedule. In one month the season ends on April 13th. That's 16 games. Yikes?

I do not know how other teams are for injuries.

at Indiana --- even the most diehard Celtics fan cannot guarantee this one a win. We are missing Olynyk and Crowder.

Oklahoma at home, then at Toronto

The next three games are close to brutal.

Then Philadelphia.

The rest of it has great, average, and poor teams sprinkled in.

I will not hold it against the team's overall chances if they slide in at the fourth or fifth playoff position as long as they get healthy.

We need every player or we are mediocre, not bad, but not in the top 8 for NBA teams like we were.

Maybe we will surprise in some of these tough games. It will be because of Brad Stevens knowing how to adjust the rotations.

I just don't see how the guy from Golden State doesn't get coach of the year.

They are 59-6.

It could be bad timing this year for Stevens, but he should dominate top votes unless we fall apart.

Maybe we do well without Crowder. We are very good. The players know he will be back. These injuries should make us stronger for the playoffs. Zeller is a mystery. One never knows. I thought Rasheed Wallace was awful in the regular season, then all of a sudden he was solid in playoff games.

All this is very interesting. I've a funny feeling we might make it to the Finals or the round before it. We're not getting swept in the first round. I have confidence in that.

They way Kerr does not win Coach of the Year is that he has the most LOADED team in the NBA and he has not even coached them to half their wins, has he??

Smitty77

[greece66]

MFW I took Butler to the NCAA Finals and fans think coaching an injured team is a challenge

[CelticPride2016]

They way Kerr does not win Coach of the Year is that he has the most LOADED team in the NBA and he has not even coached them to half their wins, has he??
Smitty77

This is info I didn't have. I might have saw this point in passing, but I mostly just watch the Celtics. Thanks for the info.

So it should go to Stevens if he navigates these two key injuries.

It might go to him anyway. Will Popovich get it? Maybe he has won it enough where the vote will think he has had enough. Ty Lue won't get votes and I doubt the Toronto coach has anything on Brad Stevens. Toronto is pretty much what people said they would be or close.

On paper, we were definitely not the #3 seed. It's a nice goal. Stevens has to be a favorite for the award, but in basketball teams can get both good and bad streaky, so we'll have to keep watching the games to find out.

[Csfan1984]

Injury or not C'a still need 52 wins regardless to get in the conversation if Spurs win 60+ and Warriors get 70+. I don't think it is happening. Kerr or Pop will get it. You could argue Raptors and Grizz coaches deserve as much credit as BS if Raptors take the 1 seed and Grizz remain in playoffs. So by default Kerr wins stacked team or not.

[Greyman]

I obviously would feel better if he didn't have the injuries to deal with, it will be interesting though to see how he manages the team while KO and Crowder are absent. I especially want to see what Smart can produce in this period, he seems like the player who will carry most extra responsibilty.

[chambers]

I honestly care more about the Nets losing as many games as possible than how many we win.
I'm not too worried about our playoffs because we'll have a shot at beating whoever we play.

[greece66]

I honestly care more about the Nets losing as many games as possible than how many we win.
I'm not too worried about our playoffs because we'll have a shot at beating whoever we play.

yes, thank god MIL did its duty tonight against Brooklyn. The game was rly close until the last few mins (also one of the ugliest NBA games I've watched some time now...)

I would add player development to the Nets: Rozier, James, JR and/or Mickey having a break through game.

We are not contending this season, getting good picks and developing our talents remain at least equally important to winning games.

[rollie mass]

i also keep an eye glued to mavs and the lakers, they almost won last night
-the higher the mavs pick the easier to package and even our pick improves with our injuries
-this was the period i thought our depth would show against other teams with injuries but now it is us
this is another chance for the celts to build on what it takes to be a winner
 but if we go on a losing streak while crowder is out
 it's just a better celtics draft position

[chambers]

I honestly care more about the Nets losing as many games as possible than how many we win.
I'm not too worried about our playoffs because we'll have a shot at beating whoever we play.

yes, thank god MIL did its duty tonight against Brooklyn. The game was rly close until the last few mins (also one of the ugliest NBA games I've watched some time now...)

I would add player development to the Nets: Rozier, James, JR and/or Mickey having a break through game.

We are not contending this season, getting good picks and developing our talents remain at least equally important to winning games.

We should thank the Greek gods Mr Greece for the legend of Antetokounmpo!
It does make a lot of these Nets games extremely exciting lol.

[TA9]

The next few games will be hard ones given that we are going up against tough teams in, inter alia, Toronto and OKC. Then again it's also a good opportunity for Turner to step up and fill in the shoes of Crowder. Will be interesting too see to say the least

[jbpats]

The next few games will be hard ones given that we are going up against tough teams in, inter alia, Toronto and OKC. Then again it's also a good opportunity for Turner to step up and fill in the shoes of Crowder. Will be interesting too see to say the least

This stretch could be the difference in Turner getting a contract for 10-12 mil this offseason or one for 8 million.. Big opportunity for him to step up and prove his worth.
I have confidence he will bring it but as others have said this is an extremely tough stretch of games, at least the next 3.

[arctic 3.0]

he gets coach of the year
-if turner and smart step up-turner gets 6th man award and smart makes all defensive team
 cody clarke is 6-7 and tough can hit the three
rozier will get time now and mickey

A few tangential thoughts...

1 Brad should consider the Pop approach and start someone outside the rotation, that insures less disruption in the roles players have come to accept and thrive in...
Could he start young, hunter or Clarke?

2 Oly, we need Agro-Oly. Stretch the floor big man.

3 crowder is the defacto captain of this team. His grit and balls approach has as much impact on the squad as his D, scoring and timely 3point shooting.
Marcus needs to take the reigns as the defensive leader, turner needs to keep doing his thing, Oly needs to go for blood every play and the whole team needs to channel his fire.
If we can weather this we will be more dangerous in the playoffs, if we can't we may miss the playoffs