Boston Celtics: Memphis Grizzlies play-in game loss great for C’s

The results of yesterday’s Western Conference play-in game for the eighth and final spot in the playoffs benefitted the Boston Celtics in a big way.

By now, we all know the ramifications of everything the Memphis Grizzlies do in relation to the pick they owe the Boston Celtics in the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft. The closer to the top of the lottery, the better…until a certain point.

Ryan Goss of NBC Sports Boston broke it down simply:

"The Celtics own the Grizzlies’ 2020 first-round draft pick, but it’s protected for selections one through six. Therefore, if the Grizzlies get lucky and jump into the top four in the lottery, they will keep their pick in 2020 and instead send the team’s 2021 first-rounder to Boston unprotected. If the Grizzlies don’t vault into the top four, they will have the No. 14 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and that selection will go to the C’s."

Here’s how things could break for Boston with the Grizzlies now officially in the lottery:

–There’s a 97.6 percent chance Memphis doesn’t leap into the top four and sends the No. 14 overall pick to Boston.
–There’s a 2.4 percent chance Memphis jumps into the top four and sends an unprotected 2021 first-round pick to Boston.

Clearly it is unlikely that the Grizzlies make a jump into the top four, seeing as though they’d have to leapfrog ten teams to do so. While it isn’t impossible and stranger things have happened (like the Pelicans landing Zion Williamson with New Orleans while owning just a 19 percent of landing in the top three choices), the Boston Celtics are in a position to move up in the draft lottery…something they wouldn’t have had if Memphis had made the playoffs.

Damian Lillard and co. now enter one of the most intriguing playoff series as bigtime underdogs against a hungry LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers. The C’s take on Philadelphia tomorrow in the first game of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.