The Celtics’ finished their season 64-18 after Payton Pritchard’s 33 points and 11 assists, his second consecutive game with a career high in points, beating the Wizards 124-103. Elsewhere, over one dozen eastern conference standing scenarios filled the possibility board based on how games around the NBA finished.
When the dust settled, the standings mostly stayed the same.
The 76ers will host the Heat on Tuesday night in the first round of the play-in tournament. The loser will advance to play the winner of Wednesday’s Hawks-Bulls 9-10 game on Friday. The winner of that will become the eighth seed and Boston’s first round opponent entering Game 1 of the first round on Sunday.
Here’s how the standing shook out after 82 games.
1. Boston: the enter NBA playoffs will go through Boston as the league’s No. 1 seed. They’d play the winner of 4-5 in the second round.
3. Knicks: A hot finish and 20-3 record with OG Anunoby carried them up the standings to clinch home court in their first two playoff series, passing the Bucks on the final day of the regular season. They’ll take on the winner of Heat-76ers in the first round.
2. Bucks: Lost to the Magic to finish 1-2 with Giannis Antetokounmpo injured, but a loss by Cleveland kept them in the two seed. They could’ve fallen to four if the Cavs won too, so they’ll now take on a Pacers team that beat them in 4-of-5 meetings this year, including the bizarre game ball spat following the Bucks’ December win.
4. Cavaliers: Could’ve moved up to the second seed with losses by the Bucks and Knicks, but dropped their final game to the Hornets as part of a cold finish to the regular season. They draw a manageable first round opponent in Orlando. It’s hard to think any series would be a free pass for them though.
5. Magic: Held on despite a late season slide due to wins by the Pacers and 76ers that maintained a three-way tie. Orlando beat Miami to win its division by 1.0 game, so the Magic avoid the play-in and stay in the 4-5 series. The winner between them and the Cavaliers would advance to play the Celtics in round two.
6. Pacers: Took care of business despite also being potentially in position to fall into the play-in. They’re a dangerous scoring team capable of shocking a vulnerable Bucks group, though they’re not outside of the Celtics’ second round bracket.
7. 76ers: Host Tuesday’s play in game after splitting the season series with the Heat. Joel Embiid sat out on Sunday, a precaution as the Sixers beat the Nets anyway, and he’s expected to play against the Heat.
8. Heat: Visit a Sixers team that defeated them in a close April game shortly following Embiid’s return. Miami would be the favorite to face the Celtics if the Heat lose, but if Miami beats Philadelphia, Boston probably won’t see them on their path to the Finals. Though a similar result last year, when Miami lost to the Hawks in this game, set the two teams on the east finals path.
9. Bulls: Host the Wednesday play-in game with the winner pulling within one game of a first round series with the Celtics. Patrick Williams and Zach LaVine have been out for a while and they lost their April game to the Hawks, but they won the season series over Atlanta, 2-1.
10. Hawks: Trae Young returned for three games after undergoing finger surgery, while Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu will miss the play-in and likely the first round if Atlanta makes it there. They stunned the Heat in the 7-8 game last year to advance to the first round, where they took the Celtics six games.
First round series:
Celtics vs. 76ers/Heat/Hawks/Bulls
Knicks vs. 76ers/Heat
Bucks vs. Pacers
Cavaliers vs. Magic
