It won’t be a surprise when the Boston Celtics secure their spot in the postseason, but at the moment their place in the playoffs is not yet confirmed.
That can change Sunday.
The Celtics are set to host the Oklahoma City Thunder at TD Garden, and a win is half of what the Celtics need in order to get in. The other half is the Washington Wizards losing their matchup with the Miami Heat on Sunday evening.
Two teams, the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors, already have locked in postseason berths. The Eastern Conference playoff picture also is already pretty much in focus, as the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic have a 4.5-game lead of the Wizards, who own the ninth spot in the conference.
Now it’s just a matter of jockeying for postseason seeds, unless of course the Magic or Brooklyn Nets really start to fade while the Wizards catch fire. But if the playoffs were to start today, here’s what the matchups would be:
— (1) Bucks vs. (8) Magic
— (2) Raptors vs. (7) Nets
— (3) Celtics vs. (6) 76ers
— (4) Heat vs. (5) Pacers
The regular season won’t finish until mid-April though, so we’ve still got a little time for things to change.
