The schedule coming up

[jmc@ptc.com (Jonathan McIntyre)]

Hi folks,

  I've been too busy at work to post anything or even read much of this 
list lately, but I just wanted to write down some thoughts on the upcoming 
schedule. 

  To make the playoffs, the Celtics really need to kick some butt in the 
next 6 games.  This is the softest part of their remaining schedule.  
They need to win at least 5 of these 6 games:

DATE                     OPPONENT     TIME       LOCAL TV NATIONAL TV
Wed 11                   Atlanta      7:00       SpChNE   DirecTV , PrimeStar 
Fri 13                   Detroit      7:00       SpChNE   DirecTV , PrimeStar 
Sun 15                   at Atlanta   3:00       WSBK     DirecTV , PrimeStar 
Tue 17                   at Dallas    8:30       WSBK     DirecTV , PrimeStar 
Thu 19                   at Houston   8:30       WSBK     DirecTV , PrimeStar 
Sun 22                   Philadelphia  3:30      SpChNE   DirecTV , PrimeStar 

All these teams are sub-.500 except Atlanta, and the C's beat Atlanta 
in their only previous meeting this season, so I think they should win 
5 games if they give it the effort. 

After that, the Celtics play Chicago, Miami, NJ, Philadelphia, and Miami 
again, with only the first Miami game at home.  Hopefully they can win 2 
of those 5 if all goes well (guess which 2). 

So if the Celtics play as well as they have been since Anderson arrived, 
beating all but the best teams, they should be 36-36 at the end of 
March with 10 games to go. 

Of those last 10 games, amazingly, 9 of them are against the 7 teams
the Celtics are fighting with for the last 3 playoff spots (yes, I'm
including NY and NJ as they've fallen within striking distance
recently).  WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY!  In other words, the C's will be in
more of a position to control their own destiny by winning as many of
those 9 critical games as possible (the one I'm not counting is against
Indiana... don't count on a win there).

Assuming a 36-36 record, winning 8 of the last 10 would almost gaurantee 
a playoff spot, and winning 7 of the last 10 would make it very close. 
It should be an exciting stretch if it comes down to that. 

The main point is that these next 6 games may look unexciting, but it's 
CRITICAL for the Celtics to play hard with no letdowns and win all or 
all-but-one of them if they want a reasonable chance at the playoffs. 

Jon Mc