Celtics Playoff Seeding Thread

[mr. dee]

Why didn't we grab Bogdanovic?

Hurts to see these mid season pick ups killing it

We have no use for him in this roster, plus he's not a good defender.

[SparzWizard]

If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.

And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.

[Ilikesports17]

If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.

And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.

Theyve lost 2 in a row.

lets not jump the gun and call it 5 in a row.

They should lose to Golden State, but have a much better record than both Denver and Chicago who they get at home.

[hodgy03038]

Now Washington will get Denver probably without Jokic but Jokic will be back in time to play us on Friday. Washington is probably going to pas us tonight which sucks.

[Big333223]

If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.

And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.

Theyve lost 2 in a row.

lets not jump the gun and call it 5 in a row.

They should lose to Golden State, but have a much better record than both Denver and Chicago who they get at home.

I don't think there's anyone in the league the Celtics should lose to. I think you're right that GS are the favorites in the matchup but the Celtics can hang with any team in the NBA and if Horford is back and KD is still out, the Celtics have every reason to win tonight.

[jpotter33]

Team            Record  Games Back

1. Cleveland     42-20    0
2. Boston         40-24    3
3. Washington  38-24    4
4. Toronto        37-26    5.5
5. Atlanta         34-29    8.5
6. Indiana         32-31    10.5
7. Detroit        31-32    11.5
8. Chicago       31-32    11.5
9. Miami           30-34    13
10. Milwaukee   29-33    13

Bold = games tonight

Relevant Games:

Boston at Golden State

Washington at Denver

Chicago at Orlando

Charlotte at Miami

Brooklyn at Atlanta

Toronto at New Orleans

Detroit at Indiana

New York at Milwaukee


Another huge night in the seeding race. But the three big games are Boston at Golden State, Washington at Denver, and Toronto at New Orleans. We should expect both New Orleans and Denver to give those teams good fights and challenges, but unfortunately it looks like Jokic is doubtful tonight for Denver (of course), which makes a Washington win more likely.

Thus, tonight is a really important night. With how Golden State has been playing lately without KD, there's a prime opportunity for us to win this game. They've not looked the same without him, and with Horford being back and rested and fully healthy, we need to get up for this game and take it. Washington could very well pass us in the standings by the weekend if we don't take at least one of these next two games at Golden State or Denver. But again, I like our chances against Golden State more than Denver, who has the size to really bother us.

It also should be noted that as of today, Detroit would be our first round opponent with Chicago dropping to 8th. Chicago has had injuries and has been dropping several games lately, and with a game coming up against them, they might be on the outside looking in sooner rather than later, which also benefits our Butler pursuit this offseason.

[jpotter33]

Team            Record  Games Back

1. Cleveland     42-20    0
2. Boston         41-24    2.5
3. Washington  31-24    3.5
4. Toronto        38-26    5
5. Atlanta         35-29    8
6. Indiana         33-31    10
7. Detroit        31-33    12
8. Chicago       31-33    12
9. Miami           31-34    12.5
10. Milwaukee   30-33    12.5


Well, this was a very interesting night for the Eastern playoff seedings. Boston, Washington, and Toronto all won, so the separation among the three stayed the same, though they all gained a half game on Cleveland.

Both Atlanta and Indiana won further separating themselves from the lower seed. But both Detroit and Chicago lost with Miami and Milwaukee winning, so now 7-10 is separated by only .5 games! That's going to be something to watch down the stretch, because ultimately the winner of that race will more than likely end up playing us in the first round.

To me, I rate those matchups as Miami, Detroit/Milwaukee, and Chicago, so that's how I'll be rooting from now on. (Chicago missing the playoffs also serves our potential Butler trade interests, too, so always root for them to lose!)

[Big333223]

If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.

And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.

Theyve lost 2 in a row.

lets not jump the gun and call it 5 in a row.

They should lose to Golden State, but have a much better record than both Denver and Chicago who they get at home.

I don't think there's anyone in the league the Celtics should lose to. I think you're right that GS are the favorites in the matchup but the Celtics can hang with any team in the NBA and if Horford is back and KD is still out, the Celtics have every reason to win tonight.

Like I said. There is no one in the league this Celtics team should lose to. With full effort, they can beat anyone.

[SparzWizard]

If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.

And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.

Theyve lost 2 in a row.

lets not jump the gun and call it 5 in a row.

They should lose to Golden State, but have a much better record than both Denver and Chicago who they get at home.

I don't think there's anyone in the league the Celtics should lose to. I think you're right that GS are the favorites in the matchup but the Celtics can hang with any team in the NBA and if Horford is back and KD is still out, the Celtics have every reason to win tonight.

Like I said. There is no one in the league this Celtics team should lose to. With full effort, they can beat anyone.

Dang 

[mef730]

That game against Washington is going to be the biggest one of the year. This thing is tight.

Mike

[jpotter33]

That game against Washington is going to be the biggest one of the year. This thing is tight.

Mike

Eh, the game against Cleveland is going to be just as important with the winner most likely getting the first seed in the conference. Miraculously, even with our bad losses lately, Cleveland's terrible play of late has kept us in the race for the number one seed.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nba-predictions/

Have you seen the latest FiveThirtyEight projections? Right now it has us 4th in the league based on CARMELO projections, and we're also at a projected record of 53-29 with a 43% chance to get the top seed and a 6% chance at winning the overall title. We also have a +3.4 Point Differential/Game.

Cleveland is 7th in the league based on CARMELO projections, and they're also projected to have a final record of 53-29 with a 49% chance to get the top seed and a 4% chance at winning the overall title. They also only have a marginally better Point Differential/Game than us at +3.6.

The only reason that Cleveland has a better projected chance at the top seed right now is because they currently own the tiebreaker against us 2-1. However, if we can beat them in the final regular season game against them in Boston, then more than likely we'll win the first seed. This is because not only do they have a ridiculously tough schedule the rest of the way (as evidenced by them having a projected tied record with Boston when it's all said and done with), we'd actually own the tiebreaker against them if we beat them in Boston.

Since we'd both be division leaders and tied 2-2 head-to-head this season, it'd go to division record win-loss percentage, which we have a 2 game advantage on them at 8-4 compared to their 6-6 division record. So as long as we take care of 3 of our 4 remaining games @ Brooklyn/vs. Brooklyn, @ Philly, and @ New York and we beat Cleveland in Boston on April 5th (second night of a B2B for them), then we'll more than likely have the top seed in the conference for the playoffs. It ultimately wouldn't surprise me in the least to see Cleveland give up the chase for the number one seed at the end and rest Lebron and Kyrie quite a bit toward the end of the season.

EDIT: By the way, Washington is projected to finish 3 games below us at 50-32 in 3rd and Toronto 4 games worse at 49-33 in 4th. Unfortunately, though, the 1st seed would mean we'd be playing either Toronto or Atlanta in the 2nd round, which is less ideal than Washington, imo.

[alley oop]

Miami's likely gonna make the playoffs. Leave them for the Cavs.

[jpotter33]

And by the way, the only relevant game tonight is Cleveland at Detroit. JR Smith is back tonight, too.

If Detroit can pull it off somehow, we'd be only 2 games back from Cleveland (1 win, 3 losses).

[jpotter33]

Miami's likely gonna make the playoffs. Leave them for the Cavs.

Give me Miami every day of the week. Outside of Charlotte, who won't make the playoffs at all, they're probably our number one matchup. We're 6-0 against Miami the past two seasons with one more matchup coming up against them this season.

[alley oop]

Miami's likely gonna make the playoffs. Leave them for the Cavs.

Give me Miami every day of the week. Outside of Charlotte, who won't make the playoffs at all, they're probably our number one matchup. We're 6-0 against Miami the past two seasons with one more matchup coming up against them this season.

All those wins were without Dion Waiters playing. They're 20-4 since Jan. 17, the best record in the NBA. He's hitting 45 percent from 3-point range over his past 20 games.