Celtics Playoff Seeding Thread

[jpotter33]

WOOOOOOWWWWWW! Atlanta up 14 on Cleveland in Cleveland on the second night of a back to back, and they're without Schroeder, Bazemore, Howard, and Millsap!

But yeah, the Cavs are just fine after that a Boston win. 

And this is why last night was such a huge loss for us, too. If we would've won last night and the Hawks pull this off in Cleveland, then we'd be back to tied in the standings with a much easier schedule the rest of the way.

[jpotter33]

I cannot explain how bad of a defender Love is. He has given up threes left and right on switches tonight.

Even the Cavs' broadcast team is crapping on them now lol

[mr. dee]

Whiteside falling for that pump fake, smh...

[CelticSooner]

WOOOOOOWWWWWW! Atlanta up 14 on Cleveland in Cleveland on the second night of a back to back, and they're without Schroeder, Bazemore, Howard, and Millsap!

But yeah, the Cavs are just fine after that a Boston win. 

And this is why last night was such a huge loss for us, too. If we would've won last night and the Hawks pull this off in Cleveland, then we'd be back to tied in the standings with a much easier schedule the rest of the way.

I'm now more concerned about the C's choking away the 2 seed. Toronto should win out if Cleveland rests that final game. C's still have to win 2 games to clinch. That is certainly not a given right now.

[jpotter33]

WOOOOOOWWWWWW! Atlanta up 14 on Cleveland in Cleveland on the second night of a back to back, and they're without Schroeder, Bazemore, Howard, and Millsap!

But yeah, the Cavs are just fine after that a Boston win. 

And this is why last night was such a huge loss for us, too. If we would've won last night and the Hawks pull this off in Cleveland, then we'd be back to tied in the standings with a much easier schedule the rest of the way.

I'm now more concerned about the C's choking away the 2 seed. Toronto should win out if Cleveland rests that final game. C's still have to win 2 games to clinch. That is certainly not a given right now.

I don't think the Cavs will be able to rest their guys. They'll have to win both in Atlanta and Miami on the road in a back to back, which is unlikely given how they're playing now. It wouldn't surprise me to see Lebron only play one of those back to back games and play the Toronto game, since it's unlikely they win both games on the road anyways.

Of course, that assumes that we win our games, which is far from certain given how we've played recently.

But hopefully they're forced to play that Toronto game, which would be a win-win for us either way.

[MattyIce]

WOOOOOOWWWWWW! Atlanta up 14 on Cleveland in Cleveland on the second night of a back to back, and they're without Schroeder, Bazemore, Howard, and Millsap!

But yeah, the Cavs are just fine after that a Boston win. 

And this is why last night was such a huge loss for us, too. If we would've won last night and the Hawks pull this off in Cleveland, then we'd be back to tied in the standings with a much easier schedule the rest of the way.

I'm now more concerned about the C's choking away the 2 seed. Toronto should win out if Cleveland rests that final game. C's still have to win 2 games to clinch. That is certainly not a given right now.

I don't think the Cavs will be able to rest their guys. They'll have to win both in Atlanta and Miami on the road in a back to back, which is unlikely given how they're playing now. It wouldn't surprise me to see Lebron only play one of those back to back games and play the Toronto game, since it's unlikely they win both games on the road anyways.

Of course, that assumes that we win our games, which is far from certain given how we've played recently.

But hopefully they're forced to play that Toronto game, which would be a win-win for us either way.

I say he sits out the miami game, he does that a lot lately, unless this year he's just trying to keep them out of the playoffs, to avoid them in the first round and or to cost them some $

[chambers]

Good to see the Cavs get torched by the Hawks after our experience with both teams.

The Cavs announcers said that the Celtics game was the best performance by the Cavs all year.

[j804]

If the Cavs and Celts are tied they have the tiebreaker though, don't see them losing 2 more game

[jpotter33]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/how-concerned-should-the-cavaliers-be-over-kyrie-irvings-sore-knee/

Interesting. Apparently, Kyrie is dealing with some issues with his knee that has been really bothering him lately.

Lue has said that he doesn't plan on resting Kyrie or Lebron until the first seed is locked up, though that was before tonight's miserable loss. Their magic number is 2 between Cavs wins and Celtics losses.

As long as we win the next two games (@ Charlotte, vs BRK) and they don't win BOTH of their games in the back to back at Atlanta and Miami (which they're unlikely to do), then Lue will have to play both Lebron and Kyrie until the final game of the season anyways to try and ensure the first seed, which works out for us really well if we take care of business in our own games.

So it'll be interesting to see what they do down the stretch. Lebron has looked increasingly fatigued in games, which you can see both in his body language and his poor free throw shooting. And with Kyrie's knee issue, it's a really tough spot to be in for Lue, since they both prioritize health AND the first seed obviously.

So we really need to make sure to take care of business in Charlotte and against Brooklyn. Things could get really, really interesting with another loss in Atlanta on Sunday. I could really see them resting their guys on one of those nights since they're unlikely to win both games anyways.

[jpotter33]

If the Cavs and Celts are tied they have the tiebreaker though, don't see them losing 2 more game

Yeah, it's unlikely, though certainly not impossible given their schedule and how poorly they've played lately.

What is more important is that they play to win in the final game against Toronto, which could ultimately decide if Toronto gets the 3 or 4 seed. As long as Washington wins out, which they have a good shot at doing, then a Toronto loss the final night of the season in Cleveland would move them to the 4 seed, which we want.

[j804]

If the Cavs and Celts are tied they have the tiebreaker though, don't see them losing 2 more game

Yeah, it's unlikely, though certainly not impossible given their schedule and how poorly they've played lately.

What is more important is that they play to win in the final game against Toronto, which could ultimately decide if Toronto gets the 3 or 4 seed. As long as Washington wins out, which they have a good shot at doing, then a Toronto loss the final night of the season in Cleveland would move them to the 4 seed, which we want.

Hmmm you're right very interesting.

How about tonight's games of Chicago/Indiana/Milwaukee I'd like to avoid the latter two?! I'm thinking a Milwaukee win so they stay out of 7-8 and a Pacer win so they stay in 8th and see the Cavs, I guess we could slide to one and face them too if the Cavs fall apart down the stretch.

[jpotter33]

Great win by Brooklyn over Chicago. Not only does that virtually assure us that Milwaukee doesn't fall to 7th or lower, it also could mean that they get to rest their guys against us the last night of the season, which would be very beneficial for us.

Now go Milwaukee and Washington!

[jpotter33]

Miami and Washington close down the stretch. Washington doing their best to p--- away this game at home, which would really screw us (and them) in the playoff seeding.

[MattyIce]

Miami and Washington close down the stretch. Washington doing their best to p--- away this game at home, which would really screw us (and them) in the playoff seeding.

[jpotter33]

Well great. Washington just screwed themselves (and us) for the playoff seeding by losing to the Heat at home. They're almost assured to be the 4th seed now, unless Toronto would lose BOTH of the next two games @ NYK (unlikely) and @ CLE.

Well, we better become Hawks and Heat fans, because now our best bet to avoid the Raptors in the 2nd round is to get the 1 seed. That's going to require us winning out and Cleveland losing 2 of the final 3 games. It's unlikely, but it's certainly possible with a back to back in Atlanta and Miami and a final game against the Raptors.

However,  we're pretty much going to have to hope that Cleveland loses in both Atlanta AND Miami, because otherwise Toronto isn't going to have any incentive to win their game against Cleveland on Wednesday. If Cleveland would go 1-1 on the back to back, then that'd put the Raptors out of range of the 1 seed, so as long as they beat the Knicks tomorrow, then they're not going to beat Cleveland in the last game, which would only harm themselves by making them face Cleveland in the 2nd round.

So, yeah, this Washington loss really screwed us. Let's hope that both Toronto AND Cleveland can somehow lose tomorrow, which would really help us out and open up our possibilities a bit more.