Is the day-to-day grind of the schedule going to be the Celtics undoing?

The C’s have started the season in similar fashion to the way they did last year, dominating early on and building up a huge lead in Atlantic Division. Already with a 3 game lead early on they look like staying healthy may be their toughest competition. However part of staying healthy may be dealing with grind of back-to-back games. The Celtics were clearly a different club on the heals of their two previous back-to-back games against the Twolves and Nets, even though they won them both (Twolves was a 2 point win), but the aging legs of the Celtics will be a topic of discussion as the addition of Wallace actually added to their average age, and the health of the ‘Big-3’ remains their main concern. Fortunately, for Boston they only play 15 double headers this year compared to 40 for the Lakers, who play the most in the NBA. The Celtics do however play 41 games with 1 day rest in between, which can be just as grueling if it’s a travel day. It’s no secret that if the Celtics are going to hoist number 18 this is the year they have to do it as all bets are off after the free-agent free for all that will be 2010 and with another year of wear and tear on the tires. But exactly how much tred will be on the green rims come May? Boston fans hope enough to keep them on the road one more month after that. Can Boston stay healthy and keep the nucleus together for another championship run? Let us know here and in the NBA chat rooms and team rooms.

Lakers take advantage of schedule to provide much needed rest to big men
The Lakes may be 5-1 an tied for the Pacific Division lead but clearly if they want to remain among the league’s elite they’ll need to get back to full strength, and that means the return of Pau Gasol and most recently, Andrew Bynum. Although Kobe has stepped up his game and averaged better than 30 points per game during the stretch, the Lakers upcoming stretch of games includes, Phoenix, with whom they share the division lead, Denver, last year’s conference runner up, Houston, Detroit, and Chicago. The Lakers didn’t push the return of the missing centers against the Hornets and still had a convincing 104-88 win. That game parlayed with a 3-day break in the schedule have provided for and additional 4.5 days of rest for the big men who hope to return to action when the Lakeshow host the Suns on Thursday night. It will be the first to two ‘statement games’, as the afore mentioned game with the Suns could establish an early stranglehold on the Pacific division, and the follow up with the Nuggets reinforces the fact that they are still the top team in the West and that a trip to the finals still goes through LA.

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Out of the gate it’s the same horses

We realize the NBA season is only a week old but looking at the standings it reads exactly as the final standings did at season’s end. Although the league got stronger as a whole it appears the rich got richer as in the East the powerhouses simply reloaded and are immediately reaping the benefits. Boston made the additions of veteran Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels and have started the season in same fashion as they did in 08’, with a 6-0 start. Unfortunately they’re faced with the same questions they faced in 08’, “can they stay healthy?”, “how will they look on back-to-back games mid way through the season?”, and “how will the chemistry be when they face adversity?”. All good questions, and add the fact that the balance of power has dramatically tilted to the East it won’t be easy even if they do stay healthy to get back to the ECF.
On the other side of the fence are the LA Lakers who with the addition of Artest are the favorites in Vegas to hoist another banner but it won’t be easy as the Spurs and Nuggets are sure to challenge. Gasol is out with a bad hammy and it’s become painfully evident how much the Lakers need him to galvanize their triangle offense. They have started 4-1 but looked very shaky and VERY beatable in their first five games. We’re not sure what the NBA had in mind when they made the schedule but LA gets a double edge sword as 17 of their first 21 games are at home, thus making the NBA Christmas Day game against LeBron and Cleveland even larger as Kobe and the Lakers should roll into that game with a monster record of about 18-3, no attempt to boost ratings there. The blade does cut both ways for them however as 40 of their 82 games, almost half, are on back-to-back. In similar fashion, not quite sure what the NBA was thinking about when they made that as well. I think the hype of breaking the 72-win season are on the back burner right now as they need to first get healthy, get in sink, and get a hold of the Pacific division first, then we’ll talk about setting records. The biggest off season acquisition, both figuratively and literally, belonged to Cleveland with the addition of the Diesel, but that has not translated to wins, at least not at the beginning of the season. After shocking the hoop world by starting 0-2 they Cavs have won 3 straight and looking much better but seem out of rhythm and can’t seem to find the right combinations on the floor to take advantage of their weapons, and turn King James loose. With Shaq coming in people forget that Z was an all-star last year as he doesn’t look like the same player, and if these are all the minutes they’re going to get out of Shaq come playoff time, they may have overspent. Sleeping in the wings is a veteran Spurs team that with the addition of RJ and draft of Blair is a monster waiting to be reckoned with. Out of the blocks at 2-1 the Spurs, like the Celtics, will have to pace themselves if they want to be around with fresh legs come playoff time. The common denominator of all of the previous scenarios is that home court will make more this year than ever before. So don’t be surprised to see that last week of the season being viewed as the first week of 09’ playoffs, particularly after last year where Boston wouldn’t have survived that Chicago series had they not been in the friendly confines of the Gaaaden. The Nuggets are also looking like they want to get back to WCF as they feel they could easily have won that series 4-2 vs. LA last year rather than lose it, have re-signed the “Birdman” , and Ty Lawson has started better than anyone expected, as they’ve opened the year 5-0, with a margin of victory of 13pts per game. Unlike the Lakers, the Nuggets already look like they’re in mid-season form and intent on getting early separation in a slow Northwest division, and put the division race to bed early.Do you think the top 3 from the West LA/SA/Den will be back this year? Who will survive the East between Bos/Cle/Orl, or will a sleeper sneak in on either side? Let us know in the NBA game chat rooms, or in any of the quick links: