<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">After almost a month of suffering through more streakiness than a Jackson Pollock painting, the Celtics woke up to bizarre news yesterday. Despite their 5-8 record, the Celtics were in a three-way tie with the Nets and 76ers for first place in the ever-mild Atlantic Division. Had this been April instead of late November, they also would have beamed from the knowledge they were tied with defending champion Miami and Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference?s last two playoff spots. Orlando led the conference with a 10-4 record. Cleveland and Detroit, at 9-5, were the only other East teams with winning records. Should the Celtics be soothing their wounds with this meaninglessness? The whole concept ticked off the normally even-keeled Wally Szczerbiak. ?Standings are the worst thing to pay attention to this time of year,? the Celts forward said yesterday. ?Why would anyone even want to do that? I know I don?t.? One conclusion, however, appears to be fairly apparent. The conference - contrary to preseason projections - has declined. Miami, minus Shaquille O?Neal, actually has played worse than the Celtics during the past two weeks. New Jersey, minus Richard Jefferson, was cannibalized during a recent road trip out west. Chicago, which doesn?t have injuries to blame for its 4-9 record, also was dismantled on the left coast. The bad news for the Celtics is that their first swing through the Western Conference - a five-city trip that begins in Seattle on Dec. 24 - still is on tap. But for those in search of a little solace, the state of the conference is a starting point. ?Jersey has already been out west - Chicago has already been out west,? Paul Pierce said. ?You could come up with a number of things. ?I?d rather be playing well than being first in the division right now,? he said. ?We?ve won four of our last six, which is good, but our division is down right now.? For now, that may be all that counts. ?Someone told me (about the slight hold on first place) today, and I said, ?You?re kidding me,? ? Doc Rivers said. ?We haven?t played well at all, but we?ve also won four of our last six. ?But it?s like I?ve said - you take two steps forward and one back. I still like where we?re going.? The Nets, who the Celtics play tomorrow night at the TD BankNorth Garden, also are straining to find the same track. </div> Source
What ridiculous preseason predictions said the East would be remotely improved. We knew the Cavs would be good, ditto the Pistons, and I think we all had high hopes for the Magic, and we were wrong on the Heat (just like everyone else), but aside from that, who did we expect to be good at the start? Let's take this with a grain of salt too, there's a lot of season left, and any team could finish with 50 wins (statistically speaking) as of right now, so who cares about standings? I'm with Wally.
