Celtics Playoff Scenarios With One Game Left In Regular Season
BOSTON (CBS) -- The final night of the NBA's regular season is going to be an exciting one.
There is still a lot left to be decided heading into game No. 82 of the NBA season, and the Boston Celtics are toeing a fine line between hosting their first round playoff series and hitting the road.
With the Miami Heat beating the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night, the Celtics' path to the four seed -- and home court advantage -- got more difficult heading into Wednesday night's game against Miami at TD Garden.
Grab a cup of coffee and a spread sheet. Here are all the scenarios for Wednesday night:
- The Celtics will be the four seed if they beat Miami and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards.
- The Celtics will be the five seed if they lose to Miami and the Hornets lose to the Orlando Magic in Charlotte. They'd also claim the five seed if they beat Miami but Atlanta loses to Washington.
- The Celtics fall to the six seed with a loss to Miami and a Charlotte win.
That's just half of the fun though. The Celtics can play any one of the three teams they're battling for seeding:
- The Celtics' best bet, at 39 percent, is to land the five seed and play Atlanta in the first round. That will happen if Miami beats Boston and the Atlanta loses, giving Miami the Southeast Division.
- There's a 27 percent chance the Celtics claim the four seed and host Charlotte, which will happen if Atlanta wins Wednesday and Charlotte loses to Orlando.
- They also have a 27 percent chance of falling to the six seed and playing Miami in the first round, which would happen if Boston loses to Miami and Charlotte beats Orlando. This may sound like their worst-case scenario, but if the C's can beat Miami in the first round they'd then avoid a second round meeting with the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. This is looking way ahead, but just something to think about.
- And the least likely -- but best scenario for Boston -- is to claim the four seed and host Miami, which will happen if the C's beat the Heat, and both Atlanta and Charlotte win. But that only has a seven percent chance of happening.
You can see why Brad Stevens kindly asked for all these scenarios to be tossed in the trash on Tuesday. But what it really boils down to for the Celtics is winning on Wednesday and snapping their two-game skid. The Celtics are 9-9 in their last 18 games, and really should only be focused on winning their game and not what is going on in the rest of the East.
Do you have a headache now? Just wait until tipoff at 8pm.
