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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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8 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
9 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
13 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
13 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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Fear the Deer? The C’s Will Have Their Say

Yesterday, we discussed the likelihood that whoever loses the battle between the Hawks and the C’s for the 3rd seed will face Milwaukee in the 4-5 series. The Bucks won again last night, making them 15-2 since the trade deadline and preserving their four-game lead in the loss column over Charlotte, Miami and Toronto.

About half the readers who commented on yesterday’s post said they don’t care who Boston faces in the first round. The other half said they’d prefer to face a team other than Milwaukee.

One interesting tidbit in all of this: The Celtics could have a major impact on where the Bucks finish and, as a result, who the C’s face in the first round.

The Bucks have about an 80 percent chance of holding onto the 5th spot. That four-game cushion is huge with just a dozen games to go. But: Check out the remaining schedules for Milwaukee, Miami and the Bobcats.

Charlotte:

• Opponent record: 360-538 (.400)

• Home/road: 8/5

Miami:

• Opponent record: 268-496 (.350)

• Home/road: 4/7

Milwaukee:

• Opponent record: 456-451 (.503)

• Home/road: 8/5

So, yeah: The Heat and Bobcats still have a better-than-you’d expect chance to catch the Bucks. One major reason for the disparity in opponent record: Two of Milwaukee’s final three games are against your very own Boston Celtics.

There are dozens and dozens of scenarios that could play out between now and then. But imagine this scenario: Atlanta and Boston remain in a tight battle for the 3rd seed while Charlotte and/or Miami (both of whom have one game left against the Bucks) creep up on Milwaukee.

What if we end up in a situation where the C’s play hard for the 3rd seed, sweep those two games against the Bucks, and, in the process, knock the Bucks down to the 6th seed—right where Milwaukee would play Boston in the first round? That would be wild.

Is the scenario likely? No. But it’s not completely ridiculous, either. And if you don’t think these silly little late-season scheduling quirks matter, think back to last year. On the last day of the season, Philadelphia needed a win at Cleveland and a Chicago loss (the Bulls were hosting Toronto) to move up from 7th to 6th and shove Chicago down from 6th to 7th.

What happened? The Raptors somehow beat Chicago, and the Cavs, with a chance to match the 1986 Celtics’ 40-1 home record, essentially sat all their regulars against Philly and gave most of their minutes to six bench players. Five of those players are no longer with the Cavs. (Seriously: Check the box score).

Philly won in overtime and earned the 6th seed. The Bulls finished 7th. And I’m still traumatized from what happened after that.

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