Whither Kenny?

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

Obviously, people are going to continue asking this question. The Celts are
now 6-4 since Kenny went down, compared to 4-6 in the 10 games before he left
(and 1-9 in the 10 games before that). Barros and Jones have played well,
although I don't think anybody thinks they can man the starting job for an
entire season. 

I don't think Kenny can fairly bear the brunt of the blame for these streaks:
Dana has certainly been helped by the fact that the Celts have played
Washington and Chicago twice each during his starting stint. 

•The team played 3 times on the road and 7 at home in both 10-game streaks.
With Kenny, they were 2-5; without him they were 4-3. 

•Of the home games Kenny played, 5 were against playoff teams (Milwaukee,
Detroit, Toronto, Indiana & Minny). They were 1-4 in these games.
Of the home games Dana started, 5 again were against playoff teams (Cleveland,
Miami, Atlanta, Indiana & Philly). They were 2-3 in those games.

•Kenny played a total of 8 playoff teams and was 3-5 (38%). Dana played a
total of 6 playoff teams and was 2-4 (33%). Basically, Kenny's team played
better on the road against playoff teams; Dana's team played better at home
against playoff teams, which is not as hard to do. Dana also played twice as
many non-playoff opponents overall.

Feel free to check these numbers, as I am notoriously lousy in math. But I
think the difference in wins is as much to do with schedule as with who can
run the team better.

On another note, here's very good news from the Globe: "Mercer was saying
[after Sunday's win] that ''I'm sure we can turn it around'' and that he has
wanted to remain a Celtic since the day they drafted him."

(Nice to have the list back up and running, BTW.)