Ones that got away

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

Looking back on this season, there are definitely a handful of games that we
should have won, and had we won them, this would have been a much less
disappointing season:

Opening night v. Toronto at home
At Charlotte against the Rice-, Mason- and Coleman-less Hornets
Against Chicago at home in overtime

Notice I didn't name the March 1 loss against New Jersey at home. Yeah, we
lost to a bad team, but stuff like last-second jumpers by star opponents
happen in the league. Notice I also didn't pick that many games from the
brutal month of March, where we lost a ton of games but most of them were to
playoff teams on the road. I don't think any of the games I named are ones
where the team put out a solid effort and just were outclassed or got bad
bounces; I don't rue losses, just losses caused by lack of effort or smarts.

You could also probably add the April home loss to Jersey, without Jayson
Williams; and the loss to Atlanta without Smith, Ellis and Henderson. A number
of others are debatable. But by winning just the above trio of games that
should have been gimmes, the Celts would have finished with 22 or 23 wins
(depending on what happens tomorrow night), which would have translated to a
mathematical improvement over last season and given them the same record the
Raptors likely will finish with.

Beat the bugs beat the bugs beat the bugs ... 20 wins 20 wins 20 wins ...