The Celtics still have a shot at the East’s No. 1 seed, which would give Boston home-court advantage in the conference playoffs as long as it’s alive.
But if the C’s don’t end up with the top billing, a spot they held for months earlier in the season, Derrick White believes it’s no big deal.
Boston owns the East’s No. 2 slot heading into Thursday night’s action, trailing the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks by 2 1/2 games while carrying a half-game lead over the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. With nine regular-season games to go, the Celtics probably won’t dip any lower than third in the East standings, but White seemingly couldn’t care less about his team’s seed.
“If we get the one seed, it’s cool,” White told reporters, per MassLive. “If we don’t, it’s the same. We didn’t have it last year, so we just want to keep playing the best basketball going into the playoffs, whether we are the No. 1, 2 or 3 (seed). It doesn’t matter.”
These Celtics do have grounds to not be very worried about their seed. Boston was No. 2 in the East last season and punched its ticket to the NBA Finals with a Game 7 road win over the top-seeded Miami Heat. The C’s also forced a Game 7 in the conference semifinals with a Game 6 road win in Milwaukee.
This isn’t to say Boston should ease up on the gas as the playoffs draw near. As White suggested, momentum would benefit the Celtics going into the postseason, so they should keep their nose to the grindstone these next two weeks.
