Finishing with a top-3 seed will be a major challenge for the Boston Celtics

Despite the fact that the Boston Celtics may be playing like a top-3 team in the entire league since the flip of the calendar year to 2022, when it comes to the upcoming playoff picture, they may not even be viewed as being such a team within their respective conference–at least, as far as the standings are concerned.

With just a handful of games remaining on the regular-season docket, the shamrocks have their sights set on continuing their upward trajectory towards the top of the Eastern Conference totem pole and, being that they’ve been one of the hottest teams in the league since the new year, coupled with the fact that they are separated from the top-slotted Miami Heat by just three wins, many believe that they have a real shot of attaining the No. 1 seed by year’s end.

However, looking ahead at the bevy of formidable foes they’ll find themselves squaring off against during this final stretch, it’s evident that attaining the necessary number of wins for them to jump from the No. 4 seed into the top-3 will be anything but a simple walk in the park.

Over the next three and a half weeks, the Boston Celtics will be going up against nine different opponents, seven of which boast records with 40 or more wins while eight are still fighting for higher placements within their respective conference standings.

Of this bunch, we at HH believe there are six teams, in specific, who almost certainly will go on to give the C’s the most trouble:

• March 23rd vs. Utah Jazz: The Jazz have constantly been playing like one of the top teams in the NBA throughout this season and, as things currently stand, they hold the fifth-best record in the league at 45-27. From their two-way star tandem of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert to their sixth-ranked scoring bench unit led by reigning Sixth-Man of the Year, Jordan Clarkson, Utah will be a challenge for any team to go up against. 
• March 27th vs. Minnesota Timberwolves: Like the Boston Celtics, the T-Wolves have been on an absolute tear since the new year, going 26-12 over their 38 games played and have beaten up on some pretty good teams during this span (Golden State, Milwaukee, Memphis, etc.). They are also 11-3 over their last 14 outings. 
• March 28th @ Toronto Raptors: The second night of a back-to-back is always going to be tough, but when you’re going up against one hot team (Minnesota) only to square off against another it makes it all the more challenging. One of the most versatile teams in the league, over their last eight outings the Toronto Raptors are 6-2 and only seem to be getting better as they continue to push for a top-6, non-play-in seed.
• March 30th vs. Miami Heat: Already considered a troubling matchup for any team being that they’re the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference standings, assuming they’ll have a fully healthy squad to work with the Boston Celtics could be in for an unbelievably challenging matchup against the Miami Heat, especially when considering that, when all three of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Kyle Lowry have found themselves suiting up together this season, they boast a tremendous record of 21-8. 
• April 7th @ Milwaukee Bucks: Playing against the defending champions is never easy and, in their last outing against one another we saw the Celtics take part in one of their classic early-season second-half blunders that saw them give up a whopping 43 points in the third quarter which, ultimately, aided in their 62-47 halftime lead becoming a 117-113 loss. While they may be just two spots and one less loss ahead of Boston, considering they’ve been absolutely surging as of late (18-8 over their last 26 contests), Milwaukee will undoubtedly be a troubling matchup to square off against. 
• April 10th @ Memphis Grizzlies: Ending the regular season on the road is never something a team wants to do. However, doing so against one of the hottest teams in the NBA is even less desirable and, in their season finale, the Boston Celtics will find themselves going up against the scorched earth Memphis Grizzlies. Post-Christmas, Memphis has been playing in a completely different stratosphere when compared to the rest of the league, as they find themselves boasting a 30-9 record during this stretch. Leading the way is potential MVP candidate and arguably the best player in the association under 25, Ja Morant, the Grizzlies have proven to be an absolute nightmare of a matchup for every team virtually all season (they hold the second-best record in the league at 49-23). To us, this narrative does not change against the C’s. 

Now, granted, as we stated earlier, the Boston Celtics are certainly playing like one of the top teams in the association since January and, with their play of late, this level of production doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

That said, while coming away with a winning record during these next nine outings is by no means out of the question, it will undoubtedly be one of the biggest challenges of the year for this squad and, coupled with the fact that both Philadelphia and Milwaukee (the two teams right ahead of them in the standings) are surging as of late as well, leapfrogging one of them to land a top-3 seed by year’s end will be an unbelievably hard feat for them to accomplish.