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7 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

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7 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
8 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

93
9 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
12 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

42
12 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

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The Next Seven Games: A Chance to Get Right?

Save for a couple of games against New Jersey (ahem), the C’s schedule since late January has been brutal. Seven of the team’s last 15 games have come against Atlanta, Denver, the Lakers (twice), Orlando (twice) and Cleveland, and that 15-game span also included five straight road games against Western Conference teams.

The C’s went 7-8 over that stretch, with only two of those wins coming against teams that currently stand at .500 or better (@ Portland and @ the Lakers, with both teams battling injuries).

The next seven games represent something of a reprieve. Only two come against teams with .500 or better records (as of Sunday morning), and none are more than two games over .500:

3/2 @ Detroit (21-38)

3/3 Charlotte (28-29)

3/5 @ Philadelphia  (22-36)

3/7 Washington (20-36)

3/9 @ Milwaukee (30-28)

3/10 Memphis  (30-29)

3/12 Pacers (20-39)

After this stretch, the schedule gets tough again. There are a couple of ways to look at this.

You could say the C’s should clean up against the mediocrity of the league, and that if they don’t, the problems we’ve seen since Christmas are undeniably real and serious.

Or if the C’s don’t play well, you could just chalk it up to their self-professed (according to Kendrick Perkins, at least) boredom with the regular season and inability to get up for games against the dregs.

Personally? Boston should be beating these teams, though there are two back-to-backs in there, Milwaukee has won six straight (and is giving the Hawks hell in Atlanta as I write this), and the Bobcats are a tough out when healthy.

And, hell, the C’s just lost at home to the Nets, so no win is  sure thing right now.

But beating up on the bad clubs would be a nice sign that things can still turn around.

Predictions? I’m going with 5-2.

Let’s hear yours.

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