8 Would Be Great

 

By RedsArmy.com’s

John Karalis

 

 

When you’re a team like the Celtics, this is the time of year that people start to wonder whether you should just tank it and look ahead to the draft, or make one hard charge and make the playoffs.

 

          But what people fail to recognize is that this is a young team in desperate need of one thing:  experience.  If the Celtics were a team full of aging stars that was making one last dash at it before rebuilding, we’d say play the kids and see what you’ve got, because this isn’t a championship team.  But aside from Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak, this is a team full of first, second and third year players.  They need to know what the playoffs are like.  Assuming we get there again next year, some playoff experience this year would be invaluable.  If you’ve ever been to a playoff game, you know what the difference is.

 

          So working on the premise that these kids need some seasoning, and the playoffs is were you get it, we are going to assess the Celtics chances at making the postseason.  As it currently stands, the Celtics are 10th in the East, 5 games out of the 8th spot and 7 ½ games away from the 5th spot.  There are 30 games left in the season, so it’s time to get to work boys.

 

THE COMPETITION

 

The teams ahead of the Celtics, in order from 9th to 5th are Chicago, Philly, Washington, Milwaukee and Indiana.  The Celtics play the Pacers 3 times, the Bulls and 76’ers twice apiece, and Washington and Milwaukee once.  If the C’s are going to make it, they’ve got very little opportunity against these teams head-to-head… so they’ll need the other guys to slip a little.

 

THE ROAD AHEAD

 

          The C’s return from the break in Utah for a 4 game west coast swing.  2 games in that trip are against non-playoff teams, including the Trail Blazers.  The C’s could break even here, which would be great for a trip out west.  But it gets no easier. 

 

March starts with Miami and Indiana, the #2 and #5 teams in the conference.  Mid-March puts the C’s on the road at Memphis, Miami, Orlando and Indiana.  The season ends with a visit to the Pacers, a home-and-home versus the division leading Nets, and home games against Cleveland and Miami.

 

          The bottom line here:  This is going to be tough.  Someone’s going to have to figure out how to turn these close losses into wins, or its lottery time.

 

THEIR ROAD AHEAD

 

          Let’s just forget about catching Indy.  7 ½ games isn’t impossible, but they play 12 games in March versus sub-.500 teams (including 7 straight) and they end the season with 6 straight sub-.500 opponents.  If Indy will do anything, they should be making a big run in the coming months.

 

          Milwaukee and Washington both play 9 games in March versus non-playoff teams.  The Bucks are too strong to falter in those games, so they should be out of our minds too.  The Wizards end the year with 6 out of 7 games against playoff teams, which means they could go into a slide to end the season, but they should have enough pad where that won’t cost them a spot.  The big story with Washington will probably be how they slipped into a first round matchup with Detroit.

 

          So our focus turns to Philly and Chicago.  Three teams fighting for the 8th spot, and this is where the Celtics have a chance.

 

          Philly comes out of the break with 3 out of 4 against playoff teams, and the non-playoff team is Chicago, who blew them out in the last game before the All Star break.  Philly then hits the road for 8 games in March, and 6 of the last 8 games of the season.  Philly is 9-16 on the road, which puts them at risk of losing that 8th spot.

 

          Chicago could stumble out of the break as well with games against the Bucks and Detroit.  5 of their first 6 March games are against playoff teams.  You can expand it to 9 of their first 12 before they end the month with 4 sub-.500 teams (including Boston).

 

          April gets easier for Chicago, with 6 of their 10 games against sub-.500 teams, but that list also includes Boston again.

 

          A Bulls stumble is not out of the question.  And neither is a collapse from Philly.  The key stretch could start on March 26th for the C’s.  That starts a stretch of 2 games against the Bulls, and then Philadelphia, New York twice, Toronto and Washington.  Winning 6 out of 7 there could put the C’s into the playoffs.

 

          It’s not going to be an easy hill to climb for the Celtics.  They’ll need Jefferson and Perkins back as soon as possible, and Wally’s knee has to get better quickly.  But the C’s have been a team that has been close this season.  If something clicks and they get a little bit of a run going, anything is possible.  If the story at the end of March is the Celtics going on an improbable winning streak, then you can probably start getting in line for playoff tickets.