The next week of Boston Celtics basketball will determine whether this team deserves to be in the play-in tournament or not.
Side-note, Hardwood Houdini does not want to see anyone get fired for the decision to stage a postseason play-in even if the Cs find themselves in it. Who would ever call for the loss of someone’s employment during a pandemic just for wanting to recuperate money lost because of said pandemic?
Anyway, Boston’s only hope of avoiding such a fate is taking care of business over the next seven days. The #4 seed looks out of reach with the New York Knicks proving their recent winning spree was not a fluke. That said, the #5 seed Atlanta Hawks are just 1.5 games up on the Cs, and the #6-seeded Miami Heat are in the crosshairs at just a game up on the Celtics and the schedule bringing last year’s Eastern Conference finalists together in the season’s final stretch.
Here’s the Boston Celtics’ postseason play-in avoidance plan in the penultimate week of the 2020-21 season:
The Boston Celtics must propel past the bottom feeders
We are mere weeks away from the Boston Celtics potentially playing Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, or the Brooklyn Nets’ superstar trio in a seven-game series.
If the Cs can’t easily handle an injury (and trade)-ravaged Orlando Magic and a Chicago Bulls team that has lost six of its last eight games as of today, then the Houdini is stumped as to how enough momentum will be built to beat the east’s elites four times.
Losing to Orlando would be particularly painful, seeing as how the recently released Moritz Wagner is now the starting pivot in “The City Beautiful.”
Chicago currently starts Daniel Theis, though, and Javonte Green has cracked the rotation in the Windy City. It would be a bad look to lose the Bulls as well.
Truthfully, these two games could determine what the narrative will be heading into the postseason. Losing one or (gasp) both of these trap games could leave the Cs in standings quick sand and paint the picture of a team that is limping into the postseason.
To be fair, they might actually be doing so given Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s recent collision in their most recent loss to the Portland Trailblazers on Sunday that knocked the All-Star pair out of the final minute of play.
Miami Heat series sweep could lead to easier first-round matchup
With the #4 seed just about locked up–although the clock could finally strike midnight for New York given the difficult stretch they face in their final seven games–it appears that the #5 seed will be up for grabs in a triple threat match between the Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, and Miami Heat.
If there is a definitive winner of the Heat-Celtics back-to-back at the TD Garden, that team will likely be the #5 seed unless Atlanta beats up on the bottom feeders on their docket while also knocking off two motivated postseason play-in contenders in Indiana and Washington, the latter whom they play twice.
Facing the playoff inexperienced Knicks in the first round of the playoffs is a much easier path to the conference semifinals than taking on Milwaukee, Philadelphia or (especially) Brooklyn. In fact, either Boston or Miami would have to be considered the favorites over New York, in part due to the fact that MSG can lose its homefield advantage quickly if Tom Thibodeau can’t get his team firing on all cylinders out of the gates.
Those fans are just waiting to boo the orange and blue out of that building, and Jayson Tatum is perfectly equipped to get them to do so by tormenting their team on the hardwood.
Before we fantasize about the Celtics squashing Knicks fans’ dreams, a sweep (or at worst, a split) is necessary against the Heat at home.