The Suns are helpless without Nash...

He IS the MVP

Omg, they lost to the Atlanta Hawks. I guess that proves the "Phoenix still wins with Stoudemaire/Marion, they don't rely on Nash" claims wrong.

Where's Tony?

If the Raptors beat the Pistons tonight I'll be willing to call them one of the East's top 2 or 3 teams. To be honest though, I don't think they will... Pistons have Webber now AND it's the second game of a back to back AND it's at the Palace. I'll be shocked if Detroit doesn't stomp.

I remember when "Mission 17" had a different meaning for the Celtics.

The sad thing about this team though is that they may have been blown out once or twice during this run. They've been in the thick and muck of every game. They just haven't been able to squeak out a win.

Hopefully the lottery will be a little bit nicer to Celts unlike in '97.

Well, let's not get carried away on Toronto quite yet. They show a lot of promise and are a good young team, but it's a little early to crown them as a top 3 team in the East. While they had a nice 5 game win streak (4 of them at home), they really need to produce similar results on a long term basis before reaching the level of a Detroit, Cleveland, Washington, or Indiana (all have produced consistant winning seasons and playoff berths over the past few years). It can be too easy to read too much into a winning or losing streak at times.

Toronto is the type of team right now that could just as easily pull out a 5 game losing streak without it being much of a shock. I'm not even 100% sure yet that they can win their division. I still have to believe that New Jersey will make a good run at it too. Again... not saying they are a bad team, just that a 5 game winning streak and a small lead in the craptacular Atlantic division does not make them an elite team in the East.

As for tonight's game, it was fun to watch. Rasheed really schooled Bosh in every way. It was the first time in a long time that I saw him play with passion - he usually doesn't get fired up until the playoffs. The Pistons are really firing on all cylinders now, and I don't see how anybody in the East is going to be able to beat them in the playoffs. Miami might have a shot if they can somehow get it together. The bad thing is we could possibly see a 1st round matchup between Miami and Detroit... meaning one will be out way too early.

As for Boston, their winning streak is bad, but on the bright side their young guys are getting a ton of playing experience and they really don't look that bad - as jmart said, they had some win-able games, but just couldn't pull it out. With Pierce back they should be able to pull out a couple games before too long.

That's why there hasn't been an uproar in Boston. Even though they suck, the young players are somewhat entertaining to watch. Al Jefferson is easily distancing himself from the pack of young players and seems to dominate every game he's in. In a year or two, he could become a force to be reckoned with. I've also liked what I've seen out of Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes. They're just an extremely immature bunch right now. Without Pierce, the team average age has to be around 21 years old. If they draft well this year and possibly add one more veteran (Actually Wally Szcerbiack has been injured throughout the year) they could be a decent team next year.

Well Bosh didn't show up for that game... went overall as I expected, playing tired against a now once again dominant Detroit in the Palace, that's some tough stakes. I never expected Toronto to make a run at winning, if they did through all those conditions, then that would've proved IMO possibility of a top 3 team. The fact that it was close with Bosh having one of his worse games, restricted to just shooting, was amiable.

Well from someone who has watched all the games recently, maybe I might be the wrong person to ask, but I don't think the 10 out of 12 games streak before tonight was really luck... They won against Wizards, Magic, Clippers by 10 points+, and were up by 12-13 against Lakers near the end of 4th before allowing a bit of slippage to get it down to single digits... overall 2007 record is 14-6, those losses include a 2 point game to the Suns, a 1 point game to the Mavs in which they were winning all until the last minute, losses to the Nets and Jazz that are admittingly unforgivable, and 2 back to backs, one against Indiana, and now Detroit. Considering Suns, Mavs, Detroit, and Utah are the top 4 in the league IMO, that's not so bad.

They've been putting up 27-30 assists a game lately, have good point guard and bench balance, and an increasingly big star in Bosh... I think they're genuinley pretty strong already. Not Detroit, but good. They play as a team much more than Cleveland, Washington, etc., and that is the reason why I have the top 3 in the East as Detroit, Chicago, and maybe Miami if you go with promise over record, and then Cleveland/Washington/Toronto/Indiana. Despite the good records I just don't see Cleveland or Washington being much of a serious threat to those top teams, I can't see the Arenas and Lebron show taking them past the top dogs, Cleveland almost pulled a cinderella last year, but I don't see them doing it again. Over the second half the season if Toronto plays as genuinly strongly as they have been lately, I could easily see them gaining the few games difference between those 2 and them. Hell, while the game tonight was a miss, I don't really consider Bosh to be that much lesser of a player than Gilbert or Lebron, he puts up less points but grabs top 10 in the league in terms of rebounds, his numbers are just a shade off Dirk's actually. During this streak he's been literally 30/10 a game. That's why I said if they managed to actually beat the almighty Pistons tonight and make their streak 11 of 13, I could've seen them as eventual top 3 with Detroit, Chicago, and them, while Miami gets a bad seeding but does well in the playoffs. They didn't as I fully expected, but yeah.

Don't get me wrong... I wasn't trying to poop on your parade. Toronto does show a lot of promise and has been playing well lately. I'm just saying don't get too carried away by their recent bout of good play. Despite winning 8 of their last 10, they are only 3 games above .500, and a not too great 9-17 away from their home floor.

I do not see them playing at this same pace for the rest of the year, and I'll put good money they go through one or two more decent cold streaks before the end of the season. I still see New Jersey winning the Atlantic. I think with another year or two, Toronto could be a serious threat to win a series or two in the playoffs, but I do not see that happening this year.

They've got Chicago, New Jersey, Cleveland, Indiana, Charlotte, San Antonio, and Houston coming up next, which should be a good test for them to see if they can continue their hot play.

As it stands now, I'd rank them behind Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Indiana, Washington, and Miami in the East (that puts them in 7th place). I can't forsee Toronto beating any of those teams in a playoff series. Heck, as it stands now Toronto is just a couple of games from dropping out of the playoffs altogether. Should they have a bad run against those tough upcoming teams, they could be looking at a 9th place spot in the East.

So, just take a step back... enjoy their hot streak and great play, but if you're starting to think their an elite team that is going to make a serious run in the playoffs, you might end up being really disappointed (you'll be like a Cleveland fan).

One thing I wanted to add... the "back to back" excuse to justify a team's loss is a bad one. The Pistons have an ungodly great record in back to backs this year, and have the most back to backs on their schedule than any other team. I forgot their exact record, but it's somewhere around 20-4 this year in back to backs. Anyhow, it's not that much of a factor, IMO. I believe it was Kenny Smith who was talking about how teams prefer it because you can sleep in and don't have to wake up early for a practice the next day.

Bosh's bad performance had everything to do with Detroit's defense and the over-powering play of Rasheed Wallace. For all the talk of Detroit losing Ben Wallace this year, I think their defense is just as good (stats say it's better)... just look at what they did to Kobe the other night - almost a career high 8 turnovers. Toronto's coach tonight even said that Bosh's performance was due to Rasheed, and Bosh stated the same and said it was not fatigue.

So... how about them Portland Trail Blazers, huh?

Well well we'll just have to see about that won't we then Tony...

In the Portland game Arenas has been promising 50 points in for a couple months, he gets all of... 9. Team loses by 21. Burrnnnn, and righteous karma. Kudos to Portland for slamming that ass.

As I said before, the previous 16 Celtics games weren't exactly hard to watch. You know they were trying their best, and their best kept them in most of those games, but in maybe 13/16 they didn't really have a chance down the stretch of each game. Tonight was the first game I can easily say during this stretch, where they should've won it. They had a lead with about two minutes left, and they let the Timberwolves take advantage.

18 in a row now.

The great thing about the game though, and will really be overlooked tomorrow, was Paul Pierce's performance. Just a couple of days ago he was in the hospital with an elbow infection. In his first game, as expected, he was a non factor. Tonight, he put up 29 points in 32 minutes.

They deserved it, but blew it. The good news is, with Pierce back, they won't hit the league record of 24. Their next game is against the Bucks at home on Valentine's Day. That's when they will finally win a game. After that, I wouldn't mind if they went on another five to seven game skid. They need that lottery pick badly.

How bout them MAVS!!
They are now 43-9 (beat the Bucks tonight) and on an 8 game winning streak again.
Next game at Houston on thursday and i guarantee a win.
They are by far the BEST team in the league at this point in the season.
I just hope they can keep it going without any major injuries and win it all this time.

Not as good as the Suns.

And the Pistons are hitting a stride

The difference between the Raptors of the past and the Raptors now, is the old team would've fallen away when the Bulls made all those 3-pointers to create a 12-0 run in the last couple minutes to climb back in the game and go ahead... Kind of like the Bucks did tonight! I'm happy they scraped that out though, would've been a backbreaker. Nets are useless without Kidd judging by tonight's embarassment, so tomorrow should be another win heading into the all-star break. Me likey.

Really enjoyed that game tonight though. With that being said, I'm not so sure the Bulls are all that hot. Up to this point I had them pegged as a big East team just underperforming, but after this game I think their record might be pretty accurate for where they're at right now, though maybe it was a lesser night. They're geniunley good, but they won't challenge Detroit, Miami, and I don't think they're as strong as Cleveland(Lebron is playing pretty good team ball right now). 5th or 6th seed sounds about right.

how you figure?
we beat the Suns twice already and have two more games against them.
lost to the Pistons once and have one more game to tie it up.
we have a better recored then either of them and we're winning by playing good team defense.
Dirk is playing even better then last season.

The Suns have the soon to be 3-time MVP. And playing without him will only help them get better.

And you won't tie up the series with the Pistons, they're too hot right now.

u're outta your mind on both counts. have u even seen one Mavs game this season?
Suns should make it to the western conf finals (if they get past SA) to take us on and like last season NashSuns
will lose.

without a strong big man Kobe will never win another championship.
the Knicks....THE KNICKS swept the season series against the Lakers.

Hey, the Celtics finally won!

And what do you know, Vince Carter is still an asshole! Sports broadcasters up here are lynching him for his actions tonight. You'd think with the reactions he gets in Toronto he would save hold back his dunce-ness, let alone not bring it out more than usual. That man will never be a respectable or even near classy basketball player.

How bout everyone in Toronto just stfu and move on. He's a NET now.
You guys have a good team (for eastern conf) now so no need to be bitching about Vince every flipping time
he's there.