"is meant to be the best predictor of a team's performance for the rest of the season. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. BPI accounts for game-by-game efficiency, strength of schedule, pace, days of rest, game location and preseason expectations."

A win tonight in Cleveland would place the C's just 3 wins behind the defending champs. Top storylines vs. the Cavs: https://t.co/HE5GASp2k3 December 29, 2016

has some mixed feels about thelately.The's, a metric designed by the site's analytics team,, yet considers it almost impossible () they will catchrivalsto garner first place for the division.Does that sound weird to you, too?To be sure, saying they will make the playoffs - which might be attainable for a 40-win team in this year's contentiousrace - versus saying they will win their division, currently topped by a team () on pace to win 58 games, is a very different set of propositions. But the former proposition is not exactly a hot take, as evidenced by the near-total confidence ESPN has Boston will be partaking in their third consecutive post-season.But does it make sense to suggest the Raptors are currently untouchable? ESPN is using BPI to come to these conclusions. For the uninitiated,.)There's lots of things that can be critiqued about the metric, among them synergistic, emotional, and injury-related factors currently unable to be measured, and tactic-based approaches (such as Boston's widely-reported approach to back-to-back games last season) that will inevitably result in distortions - but it's important to keep in mind such metrics are only supposed to be rough guides. Anything with the kind of predictive power Vegas oddsmakers would love to have has yet to be invented, and while I am a HUGE fan of properly used analytics, I'm not sure an all-seeing wins/losses metric would be desirable in the first place.Thankfully, that's not the point here, but does considering the quick-and-dirty, time-tested approach of looking at the schedules line up with ESPN's complicated approach? Let's dive into the next ten games for each team and see.Toronto currently owns ain the division race over Boston, a large but not exactly insuperable gap with roughly two-thirds of the season remaining. However, the Raptors also have one of the league's easiest remaining schedules in front of them, and the next ten games particularly so. In order, they face theandagain. In that stretch, only half of the teams they play are above .500, and only four () likely to challenge Toronto, assuming they show up to play.; I think the Raps drop games to the, andorBoston would find itself just three games out of first place in the Eastern Conference race with a win over thetonight, but also has a light schedule over the next ten games, kicked off with said matchup against the reigningchampions which will be anythingeasy. Following that game, Boston faces (in order) theand- like Toronto, they face five teams over .500, and only four likely to challenge () should Boston play to their potential.; I think the Celts pull out a win against thetonight, and drop games to the, and), one game closer in the win and loss columns each, making catching up with their Atlantic Division rivals a very real possibility. Both teams will have some very hard games left for the season (for Toronto, the, and a pair of games withstand out, and for Boston, those twogames and matchups against the), and)). The Raptors clearly have an easier schedule remaining, with at least two fewer tough games left, but it is not exactly homerism to question the 1% odds ESPN has given Boston to win the division -Splitting hairs? Perhaps. But if you're like me, you want some context to anything so extreme as far as predictions go, especially with so much season left to burn. Hopefully, for the Celtics, it lights a bit of a fire under the team, and gives some legs to the recent surge the squad has been showing.For more stories about the Atlantic Division on Celticslife,. For more by Justin,Photo via www.NBA.comFollow Justin at