Rather Bucks,Hawks,Heat or Knicks in 1st round

[Rikibellevie]

I know "ada jacta" not "es", but it becomes more probable we will finish in the 4-6 range and Charlotte, Bulls (or Raptors) and Indiana are locked for Play In. And it is good to think about PO when 2 weeks ago some were asking for tanking.

So basing on the machups,the record, history and your feeling, who you want us to face first round ? Bucks, Hawks, Heat or Knicks (I guess it is more probalbe the 3 teams first named)

Personnally, of course if the Knicks could finish 5th and us 4th it would be perfect, with a quiet easy first round before hard stuff begins. But as they will probably finish 7th-8th, I would go for the Heat. I know they were finalist and beat us last year, but many of the magic is gone and I don't see them again as the darling 2021 PO... Their team look at the end of a cycle, some youth don't totalyy fit the expectations (Herro and even at some point Adebayo) and some catch of last year made a big step forward (Nunn or Robinson) and some guys are not that young or healthy (Dragic, Iggy...). I know Spoelstra is a master, but we would be on a good position for a revenge.

And beetwin Bucks and Hawks I even think I would prefer to face Bucks : first because I like the outsider position and we matchup good against them. The Hawks scare me more : if they are 100% healthy or close, they have a very deep roster, with shooters (to face our 4 guys able to score -quiet- consistanly), energy and youth that will want to outperform. I don't think also we fit very well ag them as we have noone to grab Young and they can destroy us from 3. They are also right now ina better mood than Bucks. I know they are still an inconstant young team, but I don't feel it that much against them.

If PO begun tomorrow with everybody 100%, I would say :

Celtiics-Knicks 80-20
Celtics-Heat 65/35
Celtics-Bucks 55/45
Celtics-Hawks 49/51

[Roy H.]

That’s interesting.  The Hawks don’t scare me.  I’d rather play them than the Bucks or Heat.  I’d prefer the Knicks, but playing a Thibs’ team can lead to a grueling series.

[GreenEnvy]

I can’t see how the Hawks are more dangerous to us than the Bucks.

[jambr380]

The Knicks are the obvious choice, but the least likely.

For now, I'll just hope the Hawks and us can grab the 4/5 seeds and look to play one of the EC elite in the 2nd round. We play the Bucks well, but still not comfortable with them in the 1st round. And I'd rather just avoid the Heat altogether after last year - they have witchcraft on their side or something.

[PAOBoston]

I’d say Knicks or Heat. Would rather not play Bucks or Hawks. Bucks because they have Khris Middleton. Hawks because they seem to give Cs fits this year. There is a lot of offensive firepower on that team.

[wdleehi]

Knicks
Hawks
Heat



Bucks

[tazzmaniac]

Knicks
Hawks
Heat



Bucks

Definitely and the gap between the Heat and Bucks is spot on. 

[slamtheking]

tough call.  we're going to have to go through 2 of them to get to the finals in all likelihood with the Sixers as the other team we'd have to probably face.  don't really care about the order in which we face them.  we're going to have to take them down one at a time anyway.
 
the team that scares me the most in the postseason is the Celtics themselves.  when they show up to play and have a decent shooting game, they can beat anyone.  when they don't start off playing any defense and go right to bricking 3's for offense, anyone can take them out.  hoping we see the former and not the latter.

[footey]

Preference is Knicks, but I suspect it will be the Hawks, who play with great confidence against us.  It would be a 6-7 game series IMO.

[Moranis]

Knicks, Hawks, Heat, Bucks in that order.  Also no guarantee that Milwaukee finishes in 3rd.  They still have 2 games with both Philly and Brooklyn left.  Ironically they are both consecutive games with a day off and all 4 are in Milwaukee.  So they could easily push one of those two down a line and end up 2 rather than 3. 

And while I don't think Boston is good enough to make the Finals, you don't want to have to play all 3 of the top 3 to make the Finals, so you clearly need to be the 4th or 5th seed to have any shot at the Finals.

[CFAN38]

Ranked from best to worst matchup

1. Knicks, they play hard but are not playoff test and lack elite talent to make a series scary

2. Hawks, when the game slows down in the playoffs Young will be exposed on defense. Refs are the Hawks best chance at winning playoff games

3. Heat, they scare me as a playoff matchup. Their combination of talent, style, and last years match-up makes me nervous

4. Bucks, the trio of Middleton, Holiday and Giannis is tough

[RPGenerate]

I want the cHeat for the sake of revenge.

[bopna]

I want the cHeat for the sake of revenge.

Wouldnt touch the cHeat tbh...they are our kryptonite...Herro, and Dragic always play like superstars against us for some bizarro world but are crap against other teams.

[tazzmaniac]

Assuming we finish 4th or 5th, I think the more interesting question is who (Sixers, Nets or Bucks) we should want to face in the 2nd round assuming they are all reasonably healthy. 

[Celtics2021]

Assuming we finish 4th or 5th, I think the more interesting question is who (Sixers, Nets or Bucks) we should want to face in the 2nd round assuming they are all reasonably healthy.

You heard it here first.  We're primed for a major run here and will catch the Bucks for the 3-seed.