Ainge: "Fifty wins isn't good enough"

Boston Globe
Although Doc Rivers has said the Celtics get a lot of grief for a 50-win team, Ainge understands and even agrees with the criticism.

“You know what? Fifty wins isn’t good enough,’’ he said yesterday. “It gives us a chance in the playoffs and the playoffs is what’s going to determine it, but we have to play a lot better. The expectations are much higher than that. There aren’t many 50-win teams that have won championships. There’s a lot more 60-win teams that have won championships and we feel like we’re a championship team going into the playoffs. So I would say 50 wins is less than everybody’s expectations going into the playoffs.’’

Ainge said he is not so supportive of the “turn it on in the playoffs’’ theory, despite the presence of the Big Three and their 2008 title. “It’s certainly rare and not anybody’s strategy,’’ he said. “It’s not a strategy from my standpoint. Not a strategy from Doc’s standpoint. So no, I don’t think that that’s the way to approach any season or any game.
Good to see Ainge not sugar coating things. Not sure what else to say here, but Ainge is usually pretty careful with what he says, so I thought I would share some his more candid comments on the Celtics disappointing regular season.