The Celtics have slipped out of the number one seed (for now) behind the Milwaukee Bucks. In either spot, the team will be facing a team coming out of the play-in tournament. So we won’t know for sure who we’ll be playing till the season is over.
Of course that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate and look at the odds. The great Sean Grande put this together.
Five weeks out, an always enjoyable waste of time, is projecting the Celtics 1st round opponent.
Using Basketball Reference’s projected standings, here are the March 12 chances:
Miami 27%
Atlanta 26%
Toronto 12%
Brooklyn 9%
Washington 8%
Chicago 7%
Indiana 6%
NY 4%
Cleveland 1% pic.twitter.com/BYZ3rj0ZpU— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) March 12, 2023
Obviously the Heat have a way of making life difficult for anyone in the playoffs, especially the Celtics. On the other hand, this year’s team doesn’t seem as dangerous as prior iterations. The Celtics took care of the Hawks recently, but that team has a lot of talent and if their new coach can figure out how to unlock their potential, they could be dangerous.
Further down the list are the Raptors and Nets, who both seem to have built (either on purpose or by accident) rosters of long and versatile players who can excel on both ends.
So who would you most like to avoid as we kick off the postseason?
