Don't Worry Be Happy

I know the some people think that the Celtics can't win a championship all of the sudden because they have lost 3 straight and 6 out of their last 8. I think that this is just a bump in the road that most championships teams face during the course of an 82 game season. That being said, let's take a look at some championship teams of the last decade or so:

2008 Celtics: Last year's Celtics had a stretch from January into February in which they had lost 3 out 4, they then went on to have another 3 game losing streak, and over the course of 21 games went 12-9. That is not a bad stretch, and I think that there is a chance that this season's team can go 10-3 over the next 13 games putting them at 12-9 in 21 games. I think you'll see my point here.

2007 Spurs: This team had separate stretches in which they lost 5 out of 8 and 6 out of 9 during the season, they also had 2 separate 3 game losing streaks.

2006 Heat: At one point they lost 4 in a row and also had two different stretches in which they lost 7 out of 11 games.

2005 Spurs: This team was pretty solid all year but still had a three game losing streak at one point. They also went 12-10 during a 22 game period, which again isn't bad. Try to think that the in the Celts' last 22 games they are 16-6.

2004 Pistons: They had losing steaks of 3, 4, and 6 games and they had stretches in which they went 2-7 and another where they went 5-11.

2003 Spurs: They never really had a bad stretch but they did go 8-8 over a 16 game stretch, but that might be nitpicking as this really was a solid championship team.

2002 Lakers: They had a 3 game losing streak and on three separate occasions they went 2-4, 4-5, 3-6.

2001 Lakers: They went 4-6 during a 10 game stretch and then went 3-5 over an 8 game period.

2000 Lakers: Great Lakers team, but they still went 3-6 in a nine game period. I know that's not bad, but when you think about the fact that besides that 9 game stretch they went 64-9 you realize that for that particular team, going 3-6 is a bad stretch.

Those are just teams from this decade. If you want to go further back to one of the greatest teams ever, the '86 Celts, you will see after getting off to a 17-2 start that they lost 5 out of their next 9. So lets not push the panic button and totally disregard what this team did in their first 29 games by judging them just on these last 8 games. I tend to look at larger sample sizes and that tells me that the Celts have the second best record in the East and are just one game behind the Cavs who they just happen to be playing tonight. I think that giving the Cavs their first home loss of the season would be nice way to get the Celts back rolling and I wouldn't be surprised if they went on another hot stretch like 12-3 over their next 15. It begins tonight at King James's place.