Celtics Playoff Scenarios: What’s At Stake In Season Finale Vs. Heat?

The 2015-16 NBA regular season will come to a dramatic conclusion Wednesday, and we mean dramatic.

All but two of the league’s 30 teams are in action Wednesday as they close out their seasons. The spotlight will be Kobe Bryant as he plays his final NBA game for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors as they shoot for a record 73 wins, but there’s also plenty of excitement in the Eastern Conference.

The Boston Celtics have one game remaining, an 8 p.m. ET contest against the Miami Heat at TD Garden, and it’s a doozy. The Celtics currently own the East’s No. 5 playoff seed by virtue of a tiebreaker over the Charlotte Hornets and are one game back of both the No. 3 Atlanta Hawks and No. 4 Heat.

Boston’s recent losses to the Hawks and Hornets put them out of contention for the third seed, but the club still can finish as high as fourth and as low as sixth, depending on a varying number of results.

What results, you ask? Let’s break it all down.

Celtics earn No. 4 seed if …
— Boston beats Miami AND
— Atlanta beats the Washington Wizards (tip-off at 8 p.m. ET)

Celtics earn No. 5 seed if …
— Boston beats Miami AND
— Washington beats Atlanta OR

— Miami beats Boston AND
— Orlando Magic beat Charlotte (tip-off at 8 p.m. ET)

Celtics earn No. 6 seed if …
— Miami beats Boston AND
— Charlotte beats Orlando

Got all that? In short, the Celtics can secure a spot in the No. 4-No. 5 playoff matchup with a win and will hope for a Hawks win to bump them up to home-court advantage in a first-round playoff series against Atlanta, Miami or Charlotte.

Just don’t try telling any of these scenarios to Brad Stevens.

Thumbnail photo via Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports Images