Celtics schedule in December

[jmc@ptc.com (Jonathan McIntyre)]

Well, I've been meaning to post some observations about the Celtics'
schedule, but I've been very busy lately.   The interesting thing 
about the Celtics' wins and losses this season is how consistently 
they've been beaten by the good teams and won against the bad teams. 
You can really see the difference in the abilities of the Celtics' 
opponents by how easily they handle the Celtics' pressure. 

The Celtics' first 5 game losing streak came against (current winning 
percentages appear below each team):
     Orlando, New York, Miami, Cleveland and Milwaukee
      .696     .571      .700   .700          .524

The Celtics' 4 game winning streak came against some of the worst teams 
in the league:  
     Denver, Toronto, Philadelphia, and Toronto again.
      .100    .095     .316              .095

Their second 5 game losing streak came against:
     LA Lakers, Phoenix, Cleveland, Chicago, Miami
      .762       .722     .700       .571     .700

Here's the Celtics' schedule in December, with current winning percentages
of opponents to the left:

                     December
                      Wed 3     Chicago     L 87-97 
                      Fri 5  at Miami       L 97-117
.524                  Wed 10    Milwaukee   W 96-91 
.409                  Fri 12    Washington  W 97-88

.455                  Sat 13 at Detroit       7:30 pm
.316                  Mon 15    Philadelphia  7:00 pm
.095                  Wed 17 at Toronto       7:00 pm
.182                  Sun 21    L.A. Clippers 7:00 pm

.650                  Tue 23    Charlotte     8:00 pm
.524                  Fri 26 at San Antonio   8:30 pm
.762                  Sun 28 at L.A. Lakers   9:30 pm
.722                  Tue 30 at Phoenix       9:00 pm

Notice that the Celtics are starting to play well against the meciocre 
teams at home, as evidenced by the last 2 wins, over Milwaukee & Washington.
That's an encouraging sign.  Now the Celtics must take advantage of their 
opportunity to get some wins and keep their confidence up in the next 4 
games, while they're playing some bad teams, since they finish the month 
against 4 pretty good teams, 3 of them on the road. 

Jon Mc