Patterns

[Michael Joseph Byrnes <mbyrnes@Stanford.EDU>]

Earlier in the season, when the Celtics were struggling, there were a
couple of obvious trends in their play:

	1) After their occasional big wins, they would tend to let
	   down and get beaten by a team they should beat badly.  For
	   example, their road victory over the Jazz was followed by
	   a beating at the hands of the Warriors (the Warriors?) 
	   without Antawn Jamison.

	2) After big losses, the Celtics seem to struggle in the following
	   games, rather than rebounding with solid play.

So far, the Celtics of the past 5 games have looked like a different team.
They've won the tough games, and they've won the games that they are
supposed to win.  And no letdowns.

Tonight was sort of a letdown, I guess, but it was a very tough situation
they were going into.  Back to back games, and Detroit at home, and
Walker injured.  And, the Celtics still managed to fight back into the
game at the end.  If Walker and Pierce had gotten more help from their
supporting cast, things might have ended differently.

Anyway, the key now is how they react to this loss.  If the Celtics are a
playoff team, they should win each of their next four games (starting with
a rematch with the Warriors, at home this time.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Michael Byrnes
mbyrnes@stanford.edu