Boston Celtics: Hornets, Pacers, Wizards – Who should Cs want to face?

At the bottom of the NBA standings in the Eastern Conference postseason picture is three teams with a sub-.500 record and the Boston Celtics, who by way of failing to qualify for the postseason without first winning a postseason play-in game, is a bottom-tier team in the east themselves.

They shouldn’t be. Not with two 2021 All-Stars, a 2020 All-Star starter, an All-Star by the coach of the defending NBA Champion’s standard, and a former starting center for the 2016 NBA Champions that beat the only 73-win team in the history of the league.

Unfortunately, two many members of the aforementioned group have declined or have been struck with injury misfortunes.

Of course, no case is more unfortunate than Jaylen Brown’s. With his left wrist needing surgery, his 2020-21 campaign is done…as might be the hopes of representing the east in the NBA Finals. Kemba Walker’s knee has forced him out of 26 games this season while Marcus Smart has missed 21 due to a left calf strain.

In the case of Tristan Thompson, general underperformance has been his demise. Underperformance relative to his contract, though, not what should be expected of him at this stage of his career.

In fact, he is giving the Cs right around what his career marks are when starting alongside several stars capable of creating their own offense. The issue is that he has never been the type of rim protector capable of shifting an offense’s strategy.

The Boston Celtics haven’t been defending the perimeter well, so no matter what has been going on down low, there hasn’t been enough energy on the defensive end to have Thompson’s contributions matter.

Now, with three games left in the season, Boston is facing a scenario where a win is necessary to play on, and they may need to play two games to get the job done. Between the Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers, and Washington Wizards, who are all separated by one game in the standings, who should the Cs want to face in the play-in game?