Fafnir, it's the head to head thing that makes it. In terms of figuring out how many wins teams can get, Chicago and Jersey aren't 9th and 10th, they're 8th and 9th. Milwaukee is ahead of Chicago and New Jersey right now, but has 35 losses, so they can only win 47 games. Only 8 teams outside of Boston can get 48 wins - Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago and New Jersey. So the fact that New Jersey and Chicago play each other - thus, only one can get 48 wins, means that only 7 teams can top or tie Boston, so Boston clinches. Tiebreakers don't matter because the Celtics can't be tied for 8th. The worst they can finish is tied for 7th against either Chicago or New Jersey.