Seeding Scenarios For Celtics Heading Into Final Weekend Of Regular Season
BOSTON (CBS) -- Despite not having Jayson Tatum and Al Horford, the Celtics put up a valiant effort against the Bucks in Milwaukee on Thursday night. Though the C's ultimately lost,127-121, the outcome may actually be a win for Boston.
The defeat dropped Boston in the standings, but thanks to a 76ers loss to the Raptors, the Celtics sit in the three-seed in the East. While the two-seed obviously brings homecourt advantage in the second round (should the Celtics make it there -- we will not make any assumptions here), the three-seed will likely bring a much more favorable matchup (nevermind, guess we are making assumptions here).
Whoever takes the two-seed, with the Bucks in the driver's seat right now, will probably have to match up with the Brooklyn Nets in the first round, with the Atlanta Hawks also a possibility for the seven-seed depending how the play in tournament shakes out. The three-seed, on the other hand, is all but certain to face off against the Chicago Bulls. Once one of the better teams in the East, the Bulls are now playing the worst basketball of any playoff team in the conference.
Not to mention, the Celtics just decimated the Bulls on their home floor Wednesday night. If the Bulls have anything going for them at the moment, it's that they're one of the better home teams in the NBA. The Celtics had no issues in the Windy City though, crushing them by 23 points.
The Celtics could still climb back into the No. 2 seed or fall to the No. 4 seed before the regular season draws to a close on Sunday night. However, with a 7 p.m. tip against the Grizzlies in Memphis, Boston will know what it needs to do in order to land the more favorable first-round matchup.
The Bucks (at Detroit, at Cleveland) and the 76ers (vs. Indiana, vs. Detroit) both have two games remaining. Milwaukee clinches the two-seed if it win both of its games, and Boston would just need a win on Sunday to claim the three-seed.
If both the Bucks and the 76ers go 1-1, the Celtics can clinch the two-seed with a win on Sunday. They'd also clinch the three-seed if they lose Sunday, but the 76ers lose one of their final two games.
Boston would fall to the four-seed, which would lead to a series against the Raptors and a lot of vaccination talk for two weeks, if the Bucks and 76ers both go 2-0 and the Celtics lose on Sunday.
While the Celtics sat Tatum and Horford on Thursday, they certainly didn't punt their game against the Bucks. Milwaukee threw everyone they have out there, and Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis nearly led Boston to an improbable win thanks to Brown's triple-double and a whole bunch of threes from everyone else. If the Celtics were "tanking" for the three-seed, they nearly mucked it all up.
The loss may have cost Boston its best chance at homecourt in Round 2, but again, they have to get there first. With a matchup against the Bulls, the path to the second round is much more favorable than if a Robert Willliams-less Celtics team had to square off against the Nets.
Though given how the undermanned Celtics played Thursday night, it seems like they could probably beat just about anyone anywhere no matter who they send out on the floor.