There are less than two weeks left in the regular season but the Eastern Conference playoff picture remains messier than ever. While there is some clarity at the top (Raptors and Celtics are likely to finish 1-2 overall), the rest of the conference has turned into a complete free-for-all over the past week, with a number of potential season-changing variables being brought into play. Needless to say, all of this should be of tremendous interest to Celtics fans, since their first- and second-round opponents will be based on how all this shakes out. Let’s take an updated look at the race for the No. 3-5 and No. 6-8 seeds and make sense of the madness:
Race for No. 3 Seed
- Cavs 46-30
- Sixers 45-30 (0.5 GB)
- Pacers 45-31 (1 GB)
- IND over CLE (3-1)
- IND over PHI (2-1)
- CLE leads PHI (2-1 with one game remaining)
- The Sixers still have the easiest schedule of the bunch by far, with only two of their remaining seven opponents coming against playoff teams.
- However, their odds of sliding into the No. 3 seed took a hit on Wednesday night when Joel Embiid suffered an orbital fracture and concussion. He’s been ruled out for the remainder of the regular season and could miss 2-4 weeks overall. A longer recovery would sideline him for the first round of playoffs. How big of a deal is that? Look at how different the Sixers are without Embiid:
Sixers w/ Joel Embiid (orbital fracture)
--111.4 offensive rating (4th, ~Raptors)
--99.7 defensive rating (Best in NBA)
Sixers w/o Embiid
--101.8 offensive rating (27th, ~ Grizzlies)
--105.7 defensive rating (14th, ~Lakers) pic.twitter.com/Zc14xXqW1U
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) March 30, 2018
- The Cavs keep winning (seven of their last eight) but they are dealing with some injury issues of their own. Kyle Korver is out with a sore foot. Everyone else is back in the lineup, but three of their final six games are against playoff teams (NOP, WAS, PHI, TOR). Two of those three come at home, however, which helps. The Raptors game may or may not have meaning for Toronto, depending largely on if the Celtics beat them on Saturday night at the Garden. A win there would keep Boston's hopes of catching Raptors for the top seed in play.
- Amazingly, the Pacers have remained in this race despite a brutal schedule. They’ve won four-straight overall, benefitting from some injury luck (Warriors were missing four All-Stars in their matchup) and just strong play on their end. The road isn’t a cake walk from here. They still have a couple games left out west against the Nuggets and Clippers (both playing for their playoff lives). However, the rest of their slate isn’t as tough as it looks on paper. The Raptors and Warriors won’t be playing for anything in those contests (since they will be locked into their seeds). With head-to-head tiebreakers over the Cavs and Sixers, the door is very much open for Indy to steal the third seed with a 5-1 finish. Needless to say, this would be a dream scenario for Boston.
- Wizards 41-34
- Heat 41-35 (0.5 GB)
- Bucks 41-35 (0.5 GB)
- Heat over Bucks (3-0)
- Wizards over Bucks (2-2 head-to-head, but Wizards win via divisional record)
- Heat tied with Wizards (2-2, the divisional record will be eventual tiebreaker)
- John Wall is due to return the Wizards lineup this weekend, which should provide a boost after he’s missed the last two months due to a knee injury. Otto Porter Jr. went down with a sprained ankle on Wednesday night however and his status moving forward is unclear.
- The Heat got Hassan Whiteside back on Wednesday but lost starting shooting guard Tyler Johnson to an ankle injury.
- The Bucks have made it through the worst of their schedule. Just two games left on the west coast swing (Lakers, Nuggets) then things ease up quite a bit. They should be getting healthier as well with the looming returns of Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova to the lineup.