Celtics' record against East's middle-tier playoff teams is officially concerning
BOSTON -- On Sunday night, after his team blew a double-digit lead before losing in double overtime to the Knicks, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was asked for his concern level regarding the timing of the team's worst stretch of the year. Mazzulla confidently replied, "Zero."
Just a day later, there's some room for disagreement.
The Celtics lost again on Monday night, this time after taking a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter. Grant Williams missed a pair of free throws when hitting just one would have likely won the game for Boston, and the Cavaliers outplayed Boston in overtime for a 118-114 win.
Cleveland has now beaten the Celtics in three of the four meetings between the teams. It's not great.
And it's not an isolated incident. Sunday's and Monday's losses are now part of a larger trend that's grown difficult to ignore, as the Celtics really haven't been great against the mid-tier playoff teams in the Eastern Conference.
Against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, they're 1-1. The win came on Christmas Day, and the loss came in overtime in a game where Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford did not play. Perhaps that 1-1 record doesn't reflect poorly on the Celtics at all.
Likewise, the Philadelphia 76ers, currently in the three seed, have had no answers for Boston, as the Celtics are 3-0 against Doc Rivers' team. So, 4-1 against the top two seeds is pretty good for a team with championship expectations.
But it's after that three seed where things have officially gotten hairy. Not only are the Celtics 1-3 against the Cavs, but they're also 1-3 against the Knicks.
The Celtics are 3-1 against the sixth-seeded Nets, but Boston blew a 28-point lead at home in that lone loss last Friday.
The seventh-seeded Heat currently occupy the seventh seed, and they're 2-2 vs. Boston, with one of their losses coming while Jimmy Butler sat out. (Jaylen Brown missed one of Miami's wins over Boston.)
The Celtics have been fine against the rest of the play-in teams, going 1-0 vs. the Hawks, 2-0 vs. the Raptors, and 2-0 vs. the Wizards. But that 7-9 record against seeds 4-7 has become a bit too much to ignore.
What that means in the big picture is hard to say. If the playoffs were to begin today, the Cavs and Knicks would be facing each other in the first round, with the winner moving on to presumably play the Bucks in the second round. The Celtics would get the top play-in team, most likely the Heat, which isn't a great matchup. If the Celtics managed to fend off the Heat, then they'd likely get the Sixers in the second round, which is a great matchup for Boston. And the inevitable Bucks-Celtics conference finals matchup would be set.
So, perhaps the struggles vs. the middle class of Eastern Conference playoff teams will end up being a non-issue. But sports don't ever play out the way we expect them to, and the seeding is sure to change six times between now and Easter Sunday. The Celtics' struggles to put away lesser teams is, at the very least, a reminder that the path to the Finals will not be easy for this team.