The Celtics are down in Philadelphia for one final matchup with the Sixers during the regular season on Wednesday night. Boston will be going for a series sweep in the matchup but a loss tonight would effectively pencil Boston into the four/five slot in the Eastern Conference Playoffs simply due to the sizable gap that has already built up in the standings. Would a win really do that much for Boston to close the gap? A closer look at the remaining schedules for all three teams in the mix for the 3-5 seeds (Philadelphia, Indiana, Boston) explains why this matchup shouldn't mean much in the bigger picture for Boston.
Standings
- Sixers (46-25)
- Pacers (44-28) 2.5 GB
- Celtics (43-28) 3 GB
Tiebreakers
BOS-IND (1-1, two games remaining)
BOS over PHI (3-0, one game remaining)
PHI over IND (3-1)
Remaining schedules
Sixers (46-25)
Games remaining:
11 (Home: 4 Away: 7)
Games vs. teams ‘fighting’ for playoff spots or positioning:
5
Games against ‘tanking’ opponents:
6
Opponents’ winning percentage:
.443 (28th toughest in NBA)
Pacers: (44-28)
Games remaining:
10 (Home: 5 Away: 5)
Games vs. teams ‘fighting’ for playoff spots or positioning:
9
Games against ‘tanking’ opponents:
1
Opponents’ winning percentage:
.549 (6th toughest in NBA)
Celtics (43-28)
Games remaining:
11 (Home: 4 Away: 7)
Games vs. teams ‘fighting’ for playoff spots or positioning:
9
Games against ‘tanking’ opponents:
2
Opponents’ winning percentage:
.503 (16th toughest in NBA)
Analysis: Even with the Celtics owning the tiebreaker over the Sixers despite the result of tonight’s game, there is no way Boston is going to make up a four-game deficit in the standings with just 10 games to play. The Celtics only have two ‘easy’ games left on the schedule compared to six for Philadelphia. Brad Stevens has also announced plans to rest Al Horford and Kyrie Irving for multiple games down the stretch, which makes a strong finish (8-3 or 7-4) a bit of a long shot. It would take a momentous collapse by the Sixers for the Celtics to pass them with that kind of record if Philly takes care of business tonight.
Even if Boston does win tonight, they will face an uphill climb to reach No. 3 and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The Bucks still look to be in cruise control for the No. 1 seed and that’s a more appealing second-round matchup right now for Boston than Toronto, particularly given the injury to Malcolm Brogdon that will sideline him into the postseason.
That’s not to say that the Celtics won’t put in a good effort to win this one. They will need every win they can scrap at this point in order to secure homecourt advantage over the Pacers in a likely first round matchup, given how tight those two are in the standings. The Pacers have only one easy date remaining on their schedule so the Celtics can take some pressure off themselves for the looming head-to-head matchups (two left) with Indy, if they can piece together some wins in the meantime.
The bottom line for Wednesday though? The result of this game won’t change much about Boston’s seeding possibilities. Even if they do win, they probably aren’t going to catch Philly. If they lose, they definitely won’t. The most probable path for Boston at this point remains the fourth or fifth seed, so the bigger priority for this team down the stretch is playing better basketball, no matter what the results are on the floor.