…that the only thing more pointless than November/December NBA is preseason NBA:
Of course, we shouldn’t overplay two random January games: The Hornets are the second best team in the West, Chris Paul was/is sensational (32 points and 15 assists last night with 0 turnovers) and David West went off in the fourth quarter (he scored 15 of his 40 points in the final period). And while the Celtics have now lost five of their last seven, the team’s 27-2 start didn’t just happen on it’s own. Then again, when you start off 27-2 and, less than two weeks later, you’re not even in first place anymore, there is certainly some reason for concern — particularly when your most even-keeled veteran is giving other teams “The Blueprint” on how to beat you.
I mean, the Lakers and Celtics are still clearly two of the three best teams in the League (along with Cleveland). That’s still a certainty.
But the stratospheric gap between those top three and the next five is starting to look a lot slimmer than it did before Santa showed up. And based on Upset Sunday (three days ago when New York beat Boston, Washington beat Cleveland, Toronto beat Orlando, and Memphis beat Dallas), even some of the bottom feeders are reaffirming the fact that no team is Teflon.
So without trying to overstate this into one of the eleventy billion “What’s wrong with the Celtics?” stories that will undoubtedly be published today, it is notable that there are five pretty good teams in the East (Boston, Cleveland, Orlando, Detroit and Atlanta — and maybe six depending on the progression in Miami) and that the Celtics are going to have to beat at least two of them in the Playoffs to give us the seemingly-inevitable-two-weeks-ago Finals rematch with L.A.
I'll be impressed if you can name three of these guys. (Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)
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