Re: Another loss...

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

jaims@philonline.com wrote:

> So it's another "big" loss against a struggling team, what's new anyways. it seems like we are the team who can only beat the real lowly teams.  as in clippers, denver,vancouver(3 ot's at that!).

The most vexing thing about our Celts is that they've played fairly competitively against good teams, having so far defeated 3 of the 4 teams with the best records in the conference: Miami (18-5), Orlando (18-7) and New York (14-10). They also held a 10 point lead in the 4th against the Pacemakers
(15-7) in a road game we all believe we could have won despite subpar/invisible games by our "big three".

The Celtics are also a respectable 5-2 at home. Their lousy overall record has at least something to do with having played exactly twice as many games on the road, along with untimely injuries to Pierce, Mercer, McCarty etc.

The team's fortunes could change swiftly, once the schedule starts to balance out. The Celts should plan on this, and prepare themselves accordingly if they intend to capitalize. The key is for our Celts to stay as close as possible in this playoff race (while praying that Ron and Paul can
rediscover their early-season form). I do start to worry, though, when I see that Antoine's FG% is actually higher or nearly the same as those of Mercer (.425) and Pierce (.432).

Joe

p.s. I'm going to try mellowing my positive comments about the Celtics, since I actually believe it has brought them bad fortune. I thought I was good at jinxing my favorite teams, until I noticed how MG's pre-game praise of the Celtics and Terrapin Stevie Francis helped throw both of them off
their game last night. :-)

****