Celtics locked into 2-seed in Eastern Conference

BOSTON -- With the Celtics beating the Raptors and the Bucks beating the Bulls on Wednesday night, Boston's spot in the NBA playoffs is locked in place. The Celtics have officially claimed the two-seed in the Eastern Conference, with the Bucks locking down the top spot. 

The Celtics improved to 55-28 with Wednesday night's 97-93 victory, and have two more games left in the regular season. While they would have loved to have finished as the No. 1 seed in the conference -- and the two-seed could be seen as a slight disappointment after the team's torrid start to the season -- the Celtics will gladly accept home-court advantage for at least two rounds in the playoffs.

"I'm happy for the guys. Seeding doesn't matter as much as the mindset that we've had the entire season," head coach Joe Mazzulla said after Wednesday night's win. "Our goal was to be a well-balanced team throughout the regular season and finish near the top in both offense and defense. I think we're developing the proper mindset as we head into the rest of the season and the playoffs."

Malcolm Brogdon, who missed the playoffs the last two seasons while with the Indiana Pacers, is happy to be heading back to the postseason. He's even more excited to be with a team that has real championship aspirations.

"That's everything to me," Brogdon said after dropping a team-high 29 points Wednesday night. "I want to win. The last two seasons for me were rough, not being able to win. I'm a winner. I feel like I've been known as a winner. I want to be known as a winner when I'm done playing in this league, and I want to win at the highest level, and that's winning a championship. So being in Boston, being a Celtic fits me perfectly."  

"You can't take stuff like that for granted. Being on a 50-plus-win team is an honor," guard Jaylen Brown said after his 25-point performance against the Raptors. "It takes a lot of hard work that goes into that. It doesn't come around as often as you probably think it does. And to be a part of it is a blessing for sure."

The Celtics have made the postseason in each of Brown's seven NBA seasons. He noted Wednesday night that Boston was the two-seed last year when the team made a run to the NBA Finals.

As for this postseason, the Celtics will likely face the Atlanta Hawks of Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. Miami is currently the No. 7 seed, with Atlanta sitting 1.5 games back following a blowout win over the Wizards on Wednesday.

At the moment, Miami would host Atlanta in the opening play-in game next Tuesday, with the winner advancing to face the Celtics in the first round next weekend. The two-seed gets a slight advantage out of this, as Boston will know its opponent earlier than Milwaukee.

Not to look too far into the future, but should the Celtics advance to the East semis they would play the winner of the 3-6 matchup, which is currently between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets are currently 1.5 games up on the Heat for the six-seed. (The Celtics took three of four from Philly during the regular season and has had the 76ers' number for quite some time.)

As for their potential opening round opponents, Boston should be able to handle either with relative ease, though Miami would be a tough matchup. The Celtics split their four games with the Heat during the regular season, with each team winning a home and a road game in the series. Boston won the first two matchups while Miami took the last two. The two teams haven't seen each other since Jan. 24 when the Celtics committed 17 turnovers and lost, 98-95, in Miami.

A matchup with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and company is never easy, but the Heat have struggled to score this season. Miami ranks last in the NBA at 109.1 points per game. Erik Spoelstra's defense remains stifling though, holding opponents to 109.8 points per game, good for second in the league.

The Celtics have won both their matchups with the Hawks so far, averaging 130 points over those two games. The two teams will meet one final time on Sunday on the final day of the regular season.

While Atlanta ranks third in the NBA in regular season scoring at 118.3 points per game, the Hawks defense is abysmal, allowing 117.9 points per game to rank 24th in the league. 

No matter which team they end up playing, the Celtics know their playoff success will all depend on how they play when the postseason begins. Right now, players feel like the team is hitting its stride again at just the right time.

"I think that we've been playing some good basketball down the stretch," Brown said. "We've been having guys in and out the lineup, but we've been able to fill in and step up and find ways to win games, and that's what it's about."

It's championship or bust for the Celtics, and while they'll have to wait until next week to learn their first-round opponent, their postseason path is coming into view.