The Eastern Conference playoff picture remains a relative mess with just five days remaining in the regular season. Trying to figure out all the different scenarios and tiebreakers can be a challenging endeavor so I’ll be committed to updating you with everything you need to know during each day remaining of the regular season here at BostonSportsJournal.com to help sort out what matchups remains in play for the Celtics.
Here are the notable developments from Friday night:
1. A Raptors’ win over the Pacers clinched the No. 1 seed for them: This was a formality after the Celtics’ lost on Wednesday night in Toronto, but the Celtics are officially locked into the No. 2 seed. Who they will play in the first round still remains anyone’s guess.
2. The Wizards and Heat both lost to bad teams (Hawks, Knicks), opening up the race for the No. 6-8 seeds even more.
Here’s an updated look at the standings:
Head-to-head tiebreakers
- Heat over Bucks (3-0)
- Wizards over Bucks (2-2 head-to-head, but Wizards win via conference record)
- Heat over Wizards (2-2 head-to-head, but Heat win divisional record, which would be eventual tiebreaker)
- 1. Heat, 2. Wizards, 3. Bucks (Based on head-to-head matchups)
- One more win for the Heat will guarantee them no lower than the seventh seed, but they remain the odds-on favorite to finish in No. 6 spot. In order for them to fall into the No. 7 seed, the Wizards or Bucks would need to win out or the Heat would need to lose their final two games. The Bucks could also leapfrog the Heat if they go 3-0 and the Heat finish 1-1. With Milwaukee facing a motivated Bucks team in Philly on the final night of the regular season, that seems unlikely.
- I wrote the Celtics’ would have some say on their first-round opponent last week and that impact may be bigger than I could have imagined. Essentially, a win by the Celtics against Washington on Tuesday night combined with a pair of Bucks wins against the subpar teams (New York, Orlando) in their next two games would guarantee the Wizards finish in eighth place in the East. What does this mean? If the Celtics play all their starters on Tuesday night and go hard after a win, there is a good chance they don’t want to see the Wizards in the first round. Stay tuned on that front.
- Most likely scenario right now is 6. Miami, 7. Washington, 8. Milwaukee since the Wizards hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bucks. However, given that all of these teams have lost to tanking teams within the past week, no squad within this group is playing particularly well. That’s good news for Boston.