Home cookin'!

[jmc@ptc.com]

2 great wins for the Celtics against 2 of the best teams in the 
conference!  The Celtics have now beaten Miami, Orlando and 
New York in their last games against each, and beat them convincingly. 
The Celtics will fear no one in the playoffs!  (Yes, I know, they have 
to get to the playoffs first... don't worry, they will!) 

To put this week in context, I'd like to remind everyone of something 
I posted back on February 9th, over 2 weeks before Wednesday's trouncing 
of Orlando: 

   "When they return home to play Orlando and the Knicks, be ready
    for some excellent basketball.  Those 2 games will be my barometer
    for whether this team will come close to my prediction.  Right now
    it's still way too early to expect them to have it all together."

Now that those 2 games have happened, and the Celtics have shown the 
damage they can do to the best teams with their uptempo style, I am glad 
to say that my prediction of 31 wins still stands, with confidence! 
Everything before this week should have been exhibition season.  Now we 
should start seeing "the real thing". 

Jon Mc

My full post from Feb 9th: 

> Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 19:54:12 -0500
> From: jmc
> To: celtics@igtc.com
> Subject: Revising predictions?  Just wait...
> 
> I think the suggestions people have made that some folks may want 
> to revise their predictions are premature.  The first 3 games are far 
> too little to go on.
> 
> I'm not revising my original estimate of 31 wins.  The Celtics have 14
> players who've barely had a chance to practice together, are trying to
> learn a complicated system, aren't in shape yet to play this style of
> basketball effectively, and have had a rash of injuries to key players.
> Of course they're going to look bad.  If they'd looked good and won 2 or
> 3 games now, I'd be upping my prediction.
> 
> I think that after tonight's game, the 6 days off will give the players
> a chance to rest and get some stamina back, to work on their
> conditioning, to look at their mistakes on tape from real games with
> real opponents, and to work on "putting it all together".  Remember,
> the coaches throw a lot of information at them very quickly, and they
> only had 2 weeks of practice before the season.  After this break, they
> may be a bit clumsy in their first game as they try to put their
> understanding of things into practice, but I think you'll see their
> level of play steadily rise throughout the road trip.  When they return
> home to play Orlando and the Knicks, be ready for some excellent
> basketball.  Those 2 games will be my barometer for whether this team
> will come close to my prediction.  Right now it's still way too early
> to expect them to have it all together.
> 
> Jon Mc