Almost midway through March, the Boston Celtics find themselves in a position that no one, besides themselves, could’ve predicted seven months ago -- within striking distance of the Eastern Conference’s top seed. What was widely viewed as a gap year has now transformed into, well, another year of contention for the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown-led Celtics.
Boston sits just three games in the loss column behind the Detroit Pistons while they have a four-game advantage on the third-place New York Knicks. It’s as close as they’ve been to the top spot since dropping their opening three matchups to start the season.
Not only are they close, but they’ve got just under a quarter of their schedule remaining with a chance to keep climbing the ranks. Meanwhile, the Pistons have hit a rough patch since the All-Star break. They’re losers of four straight, and have gone 5-5 with a net rating of 1.3 across their last 10 outings.
There is blood in the water, and the Celtics look genius for beliveing that they'd be competitive this season, even with Tatum injured and the significant roster turnover.
Detroit’s upcoming schedule makes it less likely that they’ll continue to drop games, though. Over the next week they’ll meet the Brooklyn Nets, injury-riddled Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, then the Washington Wizards twice. I wouldn’t exactly call that a gauntlet.
In that same stretch, Boston plays the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Washington Wizards, Phoenix Suns, and Golden State Warriors. They should be able to handle the latter trio, but San Antonio and OKC are two gigantic contenders in the West.
Plus, the Celtics have to overtake Detroit. They can't rely on a tie-breaker becasue the Pistons won the season-series against Boston.
There's still a lot of basketball to be played
Again, though, there’s still plenty of time for the standings to shift around between now and the April 12 season finale.
New York and Cleveland are separated by a half game, though New York has a two-game lead in the loss column. Then, Toronto, the sixth-place Orlando Magic, seventh-place Miami Heat, and eighth-place 76ers have a difference of just 2.5 games between them. Not to mention that the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets each have been hot lately, and could overtake at least Philadelphia as the Sixers battle injuries to Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.
Ultimately, the Play In Tournament will decide which path to the East Conference Finals is most favorable on a large scale. The top two seeds won’t know who their first-round opponent will be until that plays out, but when considering the second round, capturing the top seed would be beneficial for Boston.
The Celtics might be able to win their way to an easy playoff path
In all honesty, schedule aside, this is a perfect opportunity for the Celtics to set themselves up for a deep run in the playoffs. Should they overtake the Pistons, it would likely result in Detroit and New York being left to battle it out on the same side of the bracket, while Boston would have either the Cleveland Cavaliers or Raptors waiting for them in a potential second-round matchup.
The Celtics are a combined 6-0 against the Cavs and Raptors, with an April 5 matchup with Toronto still to play. Against the Knicks and Pistons, however, Boston has taken just two of a possible seven games, with one remaining against New York on April 9.
Though they’ve only played Cleveland with Tatum back in the lineup, it’s not tough to argue that it’d be far more favorable to see the Raptors or Cavs in Round 2, rather than the Knicks or Pistons. Only having to go through one of those teams en route to the NBA Finals while they tear each other apart in a second-round matchup is the ideal path.