The Forgotten Ups and Downs of Early 07-08

It's difficult to dominate four quarters of basketball. Yet many Celtics fans remember the start of the 2007-08 as a period when the Celtics did just that game after game on their way to an 11-2 start. But as you'll see below, that just wasn't the case. Even though the Celtics blew out both Washington and Denver to start the season, they didn't dominate the opponent in the second half of either game. The Celtics beat Toronto in overtime of game 2, but the only reason the game went into OT was because the Raptors badly outscored the Celtics in the fourth quarter.

In game 5, the Celtics beat New Jersey by 11, but gave up 35 fourth quarter points. We also got dominated by Miami in the fourth quarter of game 8, almost losing that game down the stretch. Orlando kicked our tails in the first quarter of game 9, while the Lakers scored 58 points in quarters 3 and 4 of game 10. Finally, we were up and down against Cleveland, playing an uneven game until finally dropping the contest in OT.

I'm not saying Celtics are now playing as well as they did to start to the 07-08 season. I'm just saying that the 07-08 team played unevenly, too, and that any memories of complete dominance are inaccurate. I also think that a team comprised of veterans sees little to gain from trying to put away a game in the first half. It wastes a lot of energy, and often times doesn't accomplish the objective. It would be nice to see this team start to mesh and post some sizable blowouts. But the first real test will come between Nov 29 and Jan 20, when the team plays 16 of 22 games on the road. That's when we will start to see what this team is made of.

With any luck, we'll be playing some of our best basketball by the end of that stretch. At least I hope we are. Why? The next five games thereafter are against Portland and the Clippers at home, Orlando and Atlanta on the road, and then that other Los Angeles team at home.

  
WAS (0-2)  18  18  21  26  83
BOS (1-0)  21  37  21  24  103

BOS (2-0)  23  15  28  12  20  98
TOR (2-1)  14  17  24  23  17  95

DEN (2-3)  22  16  28  27  93
BOS (3-0)  38  39  26  16  119

ATL (2-3)  19  22  20  22  83
BOS (4-0)  24  31  19  32  106

BOS (5-0)  26  33  28  25  112
NJN (4-2)  27  25  14  35  101

BOS (6-0)  26  26  24  25  101
IND (3-4)  24  19  22  21  86

NJN (4-4)  23  11  20  15  69
BOS (7-0)  17  19  26  29  91

MIA (1-8)  24  22  19  26  91
BOS (8-0)  24  28  24  16  92

BOS (8-1)  17  24  35  26  102
ORL (9-2)  28  30  25  21  104

GSW (3-7)  16  21  27  18  82
BOS (9-1)  25  25  31  24  105

LAL (7-5)   16  19  31  28  94
BOS (10-1)  25  28  31  23  107

BOS (11-1)  23  25  28  20  96
CHA (6-7)   23  30  22  20  95

BOS (11-2)  20  29  23  20  12  104
CLE (9-6)   26  20  28  18  17  109