With the potential of a handful of exhibition games being played prior to the start of the NBA postseason, who on the Boston Celtics should receive some extra playing time?
It’s been 74 days since we last saw live Boston Celtics basketball, but to us here at the Houdini it’s felt like an eternity.
The excitement was real surrounding this 2019-20 shamrocks squad. After the headache that was the 2018-19 campaign, the C’s managed to put all the drama behind them and, in turn, have undoubtedly placed themselves within the top-tier legitimate contenders the league currently has to offer.
Through 64 games, the team had accumulated a record of 43-21, placing them third in the Eastern Conference, fifth in the entire league, and, with their victory over the Indiana Pacers on March 10th, were on their way to their sixth straight postseason.
And then, as we all know, the global pandemic known as COVID-19 made its way into the association and, just like that, the league year came to an immediate halt.
Now, after more than two months of hiatus, it appears as though the light at the end of the tunnel can finally be seen.
Rumors have begun to circulate that a return to action could be on its way.
The current scuttlebutt is a potential return by mid-July and a highly talked about location for said return could be Orlando’s Disney World.
Sources from Walt Disney World tell me: "We are confident we'll be hosting the NBA in some fashion. It may not be the entire league, but we believe the NBA will be here to at least finish part of their season. Still hurdles to cross, but we are preparing as if that is the case."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) May 20, 2020
With this idea, there is a very likely scenario in which all teams, not just playoff-bound ones, would play a certain amount of games in this setting. Reportedly, the league is aiming to have a total of 70 regular-season games played by the time the postseason comes around.
That would mean there would be around six more games played — at least for the C’s — before they entered into the playoffs. If this were to be the case, and the Boston Celtics wound up playing a handful of regular-season games before they embark on their quest for championship number 18, we believe it would be wise of the team to bestow these two players more minutes during this final stretch.