Celtics have the easiest remaining schedule of Playoff teams

[Vox_Populi]

http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/easternsosrg.html#sflx

This is purely by opponent win%. Doesn't account for away/home or days of rest.

[saltlover]

The #1 seed is definitely within reach if we beat the Cavs both games in Boston.

[Tr1boy]

The #1 seed is definitely within reach if we beat the Cavs both games in Boston.

Hope so. Worst case 3rd.

Dont want to see the cavs in the 1st or 2nd round

Hope someone pulls off a miracle against them

[The One]

And since Toronto lost last night...we are up 3.5 games for the division!!!

The division race is over...right??

[GreenEnvy]

And since Toronto lost last night...we are up 3.5 games for the division!!!

The division race is over...right??

Sounds like Toronto is ready to make a trade, so let's see what happens there.

Let's keep distancing ourselves from them and keep eyeing Cleveland. We can catch them if they drop a couple more they shouldn't. We still play them twice more in Boston too.

We are done with SAS, HOU, UTA, MEM, OKC. Have a tough one @GSW, but other than that, we should be able to string together plenty of W's. At the very least, we should avoid any losing spells.

[Chris22]

Washington might win the division.

[Denis998]

looking at the remaining games it is reasonable to assume that we end up with 55-56 wins for the season. If we take care of business against the sub .500 teams, and steal a few wins against the teams ahead of us, we could get to 58 wins

[The One]

Washington might win the division.

Over the Hawks...sounds reasonable.

[fairweatherfan]

I think #1 is very unlikely, but the important thing is finishing in the top 3; that way we don't have to worry about Cleveland til a possible ECF matchup. We're 3.5 games up on that now, and just 4 games from 5th. It's a great position, but far from a lock.

Our key is being able to maintain focus and beat the teams we should be beating. Fortunately we've been great at that so far this year, it's the better teams who have given us fits (til recently).

[celticsclay]

I think #1 is very unlikely, but the important thing is finishing in the top 3; that way we don't have to worry about Cleveland til a possible ECF matchup. We're 3.5 games up on that now, and just 4 games from 5th. It's a great position, but far from a lock.

Our key is being able to maintain focus and beat the teams we should be beating. Fortunately we've been great at that so far this year, it's the better teams who have given us fits (til recently).

I feel like this really depends how much Cleveland wants it. They have honestly been running Lebron into the ground and Love has now gotten banged up a few times. Lebron in particular is an older player. By comparison he is the same age Garnett was his second season in Boston. Lebron is playing 5 more minutes a game than KG did that year (and this was pre-injury). Unless Lue is a complete idiot they will stop giving Lebron more games off or less minutes which will lead to a few more lessons. This seems like a no brainer to me because they would still be heavily favored over Boston even if they didn't have home court.

[igorsure]

Washington - schedule looks not so bad. But if you look on home/road statistics
Wash is much better home team then road team: 23-7 home vs  9-14 road. For now they play 7 more home game then road games, means they'll probably have tough second half of season

[SHAQATTACK]

When LeBron is sitting , Cavs can barely jeep up with the medium power low playoff clubs , soon as he sits , the opponent starts cutting into the lead.

LeBron has to play , if he gets a Avery Bradley type injury ....Cavs sink like a rock .....they are extremely top heavy .

LeBron has to play 40 minutes a game for them to best good teams. 

It's basically all on his shoulders .

[mgent]

I noticed how easy our schedule was a couple days ago.

28 games left.

Basically only 6 of those games are against tough teams.

2 home games vs. CLE, @GS, @LAC (beat them here easy, CP3 shouldn't be back yet), @TOR, and a home game against WAS although that's pretty much a guaranteed win after the horrible effort we gave in WAS.

Aside from those 6, there's seriously only 3 other games against teams that don't suck.  2 with ATL (already won our only game against them in ATL) and 1 home game vs. IND (already 2-0 against them this season, and both games were in IND).

So far we're a combined 3-0 against these teams.

The remaining 19 games are against losing record teams.

11 of those games are against bottom-feeders:  2 BKN (we're already 2-0, 1 blowout win), 2 PHI (2-0), 2 PHO (haven't played), vs. MIN (1-0), vs. ORL (2-0 both blowouts), @LAL (1-0), @NY (2-1, 1 blowout win), and tonight @DAL (1-0).

So far we're a combined 11-1 against these teams, including 4 blow out wins.

Other 8 games are against fringe 8th seeds:  2 MIL home games (won only game in MIL), 2 CHI (1-1), vs. MIA (3-0), @CHA (3-0), @DET (2-1), and @DEN (0-1).

So far we're a combined 10-3 against these teams.

No reason we can't go something like 16-3 against these lousy teams, and then something like 6-3 against the teams that don't suck.  Finish the season 57-25 (gotta end up with at least 55, right?).

[CelticPride2016]

No reason we can't go something like 16-3 against these lousy teams, and then something like 6-3 against the teams that don't suck.  Finish the season 57-25 (gotta end up with at least 55, right?).

I predicted 57-25 on January 31st and even put that number into the title. 

"The Celtics will end up at 57-25"
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=88944.0

I think I went down the schedule and went quick with intuition picking win or loss. There were 34 games left at the time and we had to win at an 80% clip. We have to go 21-6 the rest of the way, which is 78%. 19-8 would get you your minimum 55 games and seems likely in a just saying way. 24-3 sounds impossible for the 60 wins. But Golden State just got humbled. Lebron has evolved into a whining tyrant. I think we could catch Houston, but it is unlikely, as they relish the regular season accolades. So, I guess we might catch Cleveland for the 4th best overall record and #1 EC seed.

Our goal should be to win the second seed. We have a couple games over Washington which is due a market correction. We are due back Avery Bradley and seemingly firing on all cylinders.

Since starting 13-12, we've gone 23-7.

Tonight was kind of odd how easy it turned out. Washington certainly punched us in the nose wearing funeral clothes, so that'll be a good game. Hopefully we don't get slaughtered by Golden State. I have a good feeling about the Cleveland games. I think we'll win at least one of them. I hope so. Otherwise we could run the table. It is unlikely, so 55 or 57 wins sounds good. That should be enough for at least the third seed and probably good enough for the 2nd, imho.

[Irish Stew]

Finishing as the #1 or #2 seed would, of course, be a nice accomplishment, but if this roster is not upgraded for interior defense, rebounding, and a second go-to 4th quarter scorer, I would seed the East regardless of their regular season records:

1) Cleveland             (James, Irving, Love?)

2) Washington          (Wall and Beal)

3)Toronto                 (Lowry and DeRozan)

4) Boston                 (Thomas and ?)