Celts' West Coast Woes

So how good are these Celtics anyway? They were 16-0 against Western Conference teams before their West coast road trip after the All-Start break. During this recent trip the Celts went 2-3 against teams who, except for maybe the Nuggets, are currently not playing their best ball of the season. On top of that, the Celts' two victories were against teams who had or sustained major injuries to their top players. Brandon Roy got injured when the Celts were coming back from a 17 point first half deficit against the Blazers and the Clippers were without 4 of their top 6 players when the Celtics beat them to close out the trip. The three teams that beat the Celtics (Suns, Nuggets, and Warriors) all lost their next game and to make matters worse, the Suns were blown out at home on National TV by fellow Eastern Conference rival Detroit.

Now one can argue that these teams all brought their 'A' game against the team with the best record in NBA but you also can't deny that the Celts' defense and shooting is becoming more inconsistent as the year goes on. Also, it seems that if 2 of the 'Big 3' (Allen, Pierce, KG) have bad shooting nights, then it's nearly impossible for them to win. Even more discouraging is that the Celtics were 7-2 without Kevin Garnett and now only 2-3 with him back in the line-up. As the Celts return home to play the improved Cavs, I guess only time will tell if this trip was just a blip on the radar or a major turning point in the season.