Boston Celtics Schedule About to Get Much Tougher

On Sunday, the Boston Celtics will travel to Milwaukee to take on the 1-7 Bucks. The Celtics already beat the Bucks earlier this week by seven points.

The C's enter this game at 7-2 overall and with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. However, it's fair to acknowledge that they've feasted on a soft schedule to this point. 

Through nine games, the Celtics have played the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, but beyond that? The Celtics have played two games against the Chicago Bulls and one each against the Bucks, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic, who are the five-worst teams in the Eastern Conference.

You can only play who is on your schedule, so it's good to see the Celtics get wins, but they also need to realize that the schedule is about to ramp up greatly.

After the Milwaukee game on Sunday (8 p.m. ET), the Celtics schedule looks like this:

Nov. 10 - @ Philadelphia (8-2, first in Eastern Conference)

Nov. 11 - @ Toronto (5-4, sixth in Eastern Conference, back-to-back)

Nov. 15 - vs. Dallas (5-4, 10th in Western Conference)

Nov. 16 - vs. Orlando (2-7, back-to-back)

Nov. 18 - @ Denver (5-3, 9th in Western Conference).

And while the records and positions for Dallas and Denver don't seem all that impressive, those two teams do feature some of the best players in the league, including Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving and Nikola Jokic.

The Western Conference is seen as deeper than the East, so those teams would likely be higher in the East.

Well, first and foremost, they'll have to stay healthy and get continued greatness from Jayson Tatum. Beyond him, Paul George will need to keep playing well, and we've highlighted the need for Payton Pritchard to be more consistent as well. The guard has had three huge games, but every other game this season has been below his 17 ppg scoring average from a year ago.

The Celtics need him at his best if they are going to be at their best throughout the season.

Boston's first-round draft pick Chris Cenac Jr. was impressive in his first G-League action on Friday night, going for 19 points and 11 rebounds. You can see some of the highlights from Maine's win over Westchester here.