<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">With each victory, the Celtics pull away from the bottom -- to the next-to-the-bottom. Their neck-and-neck battle with Memphis has not quite turned into Secretariat at the Belmont, but Boston has pulled 3 1/2 games ahead of the Grizzlies in the battle for the NBA's worst record. The 25 percent chance at the No. 1 pick drops to 19.9 percent if things stay that way. Four teams entered last night's action with 22 victories -- five more than the Celtics -- and the three who played last night were all on the road. Catching any of those teams (Milwaukee, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia) is going to be difficult with only 23 games remaining, which should soothe the Odenistas and Durantophiles out there. Difficult, but not impossible. We'll know something's up if Bill Fitch is summoned to coach any of the above units for the final six weeks of the season. The Celtics, who host Houston tomorrow night, have seven games remaining against the aforementioned four teams. All are home-and-homes with the exception of a singleton against Charlotte, which visits Boston March 21. However, of the 16 other games that must be played, all but one (Friday at home against Seattle) are against either teams with winning records or teams fighting for a playoff berth. That includes an upcoming trip to Texas with games against the Spurs and Mavericks, who, as of yesterday, were a combined 23-0 in their past 23 games. While the fans are focused on the lottery and the draft, the players are not. Privately, a few have bristled at the constant chatter about adding Greg Oden or Kevin Durant to the team. But Delonte West has no beef with the fans wanting to get one of the top picks in June. "You can't fault them for having positive thinking because there's not much to talk about the team as far as winning games goes," said West. "They're trying to better the team. "As players, you want to focus on the season. You have to focus on the games. But the fans are just as much a part of this as we are and they're looking at next year. They're talking about a No. 1 or a No. 2 pick, not the last pick or the 40th. They're talking about two of the top players in college. "I guess in the long run it'd be good, but, for us, we're not focused on that."</div> Source
Since the Celtics obviously will not make the playoffs, they should keep up the good work to help save some of their face.
As long as they stay in the bottom three, then they have a great shot of winning the lottery. Having the most ping pong balls is overrated.
The worst team usually never gets the first pick. The Celtics are probably better off winning and getting the 3rd-4th worst record.
