NBA Announces Date, Time Of Celtics First Playoff Game

It seemed for the last several weeks like the postseason would never show up for the Boston Celtics as they slowly made their way to the finish line of the NBA regular season.

But the Celtics now know exactly when they will open up their playoff run.

With the NBA regular season coming to a close Sunday, which included the Celtics backups toppling the Atlanta Hawks, the league announced Boston will open its postseason Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET at TD Garden. The rest of the schedule for the first-round series has yet to be released.

While the date and time of the Celtics’ first playoff game is scheduled, they still don’t have a first round opponent yet. That will come Tuesday as the Celtics face the winner of the contest between the Miami Heat and Hawks, who square off in the play-in tournament to start. And Celtics fans might see it advantageous if one of those two teams in particular makes their way north.

The Celtics swept the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs last season before reaching the NBA Finals.

If the Heat advance to take on the Celtics, it would be a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference finals. Boston went 2-2 against Miami in the regular season while owning a perfect 3-0 mark against the Hawks.