Celtics will have home-court advantage if they return to NBA Finals this postseason

BOSTON -- The Celtics got a bit of an assist from the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night. They'll have to make it back to the NBA Finals in order to make use of that assist, but it was an assist nonetheless.

With the Suns beating the Denver Nuggets late Thursday evening, the Celtics (and the Milwaukee Bucks) have clinched home-court advantage should they make it to the NBA Finals.

The loss to Phoenix dropped Denver to 52-28 on the season, so the Nuggets will not be catching the Celtics or the Bucks record-wise. Milwaukee and Boston now own home-court over any Western Conference foe they'd face in the Finals -- again, should either team make it that far.

The Celtics have a long ways to go before making it back to the NBA Finals. For starters, they have two more regular season games this weekend, though they are fairly meaningless after Boston locked up the No. 2 seed in the East on Wednesday night.

Boston will then play the winner of the first play-in tournament game, which at the moment would be between the seven-seeded Miami Heat or eight-seeded Atlanta Hawks, though there may be a bit of movement on that front over the final weekend of the regular season.

Then there is the East semis and the Eastern Conference Finals, and should Boston and Milwaukee reach that point, the Bucks would own home-court advantage in the matchup. But the Celtics were the road team in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, when they beat the Miami Heat in seven games, earning a Game 7 win and a trip to the Finals in Miami. 

When the C's faced the Warriors for last year's title, Golden State had home-court advantage. The Celtics were able to take Game 1 of the series in San Francisco, but the Warriors ultimately won in six games -- clinching the title in Boston.

If the Celtics are back in the Finals this season, the series would start in Boston. That could lead to a much different outcome this time around -- should the Celtics make it that far.