A Piece By: Andrew P.
With 7 games remaining in the regular season, the Celtics sit in 7th place, meaning that if the playoffs started today, they would be in the play-in tournament. But, in this final 7 game stretch, the Celtics have a chance to jump up in the standings, out of the play-in tournament and potentially into home-court advantage in the first round.
As it stands now, the Celtics stand at the 7 seed. They are currently 0.5 games behind the Miami Heat, 1.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks, and 3 games behind the New York Knicks. I’m not including Philadelphia, Brooklyn, or Milwaukee as the only thing that could change about their standings is their order.
Those 3 will make up the top 3, no question. Let’s take a closer look at the space between Boston and Miami. The Celtics are 0.5 games behind the Heat; this means that with a Boston win, the two teams would have the same record. With teams that share the same record or winning percentage, the higher seed goes to the team who has won more head-to-head games (games played against each other). The Celtics and Heat have only played once this year, and the Celtics won (On Payton Pritchard’s Game Winner), so therefore, they would take the higher seed.
It’s worth looking into this matchup not only because the two teams are very close in the standings, but in the final 7 games, the Celtics and Heat match up twice, playing two consecutive games on Sunday, May 9 and Tuesday, May 11. There is a good chance for movement before these games though, as the Celtics have games against the Magic and the Bulls, while the Heat match up with the Timberwolves on Friday (They lost to the Mavs last night). These two games are lining up to be the toughest and most important games for the Celtics in their final push to the playoffs. Take a look at the remaining schedule for Boston:
Celtics @ Magic : May 5, 7pm
Celtics @ Bulls : May 7, 7:30pm
Heat @ Celtics : May 9, 1pm
Heat @ Celtics : May 11, 7pm
Celtics @ Cavaliers : May 12, 8pm
Celtics @ Timberwolves : May 15, TBD
Celtics @ Knicks : May 16, TBD
As you can see, the Celtics finish the season with 2 sets of back-to-back games, with 3 of those on the road. Not ideal, but we can work with it.
I know what this Celtics team is capable of. I know where this team can go. I know that they can run with (and beat) ANY team in the NBA when we play the basketball that we all know they can play. The C’s have to make sure they have done everything in their power to win as many of their final 7 games as possible. If the 3 teams within reach of Boston win all of their remaining games, there’s nothing we can do.
The fate of the Boston Celtics rests in their own hands.