Celtics Magic Numbers

Magic Number to secure 3rd = 2.
Any combo of Celtic wins and Wizards losses totaling 2.

Magic Number to secure 2nd = 3.
Any combo of Celtic wins and Raptor losses totaling 3.

The Magic Number to secure 1st, or be eliminated from 1st, will calculated on Thursday after the Cleveland game.


4th place guarantees us at least one home court advantage series.  Our sights are higher but you cannot achieve orbit without first getting above the clouds.


bob


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Bob, I may be misinterpreting your post but we, along with the other 3 top teams have already clinched 4th. The Bucks are in 5th with a 40-37 record, the best they can finish is 45-37. Was.is currently in 4th with 46 wins. The 1,2, and 3 seeds are still in play for us, Cle, Tor, and Was.

willjr wrote:Bob, I may be misinterpreting your post but we, along with the other 3 top teams have already clinched 4th. The Bucks are in 5th with a 40-37 record, the best they can finish is 45-37. Was.is currently in 4th with 46 wins. The 1,2, and 3 seeds are still in play for us, Cle, Tor, and Was.

Will,

Quite right. I went 4, 3, 1 and didn't notice.

Thanks.


bob


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Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
Raptors lose at Indiana. Celtics' magic number to clinch the Atlantic, and finish no lower than 2nd in the East is down to 2.
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That's because the number for Toronto and Washington is the same.


bob


.

Celtics beat Charlotte.  Miami beat Washington.

Washington is eliminated from contention for 2nd place.  It is just us and Toronto, the Magic Number is 1, and they play Cleveland in Cleveland for their last regular season game.

Let's beat Brooklyn in Boston and make that academic.


bob


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Celts could still win East. Cleveland could lose 2/3 and Boston could win last two games.

Toronto is looking like the second best team in the east now that they are healthy.

kdp59 wrote:Toronto is looking like the second best team in the east now that they are healthy.

kdp,

There's no doubt the second round is going to be very difficult. Let's get there first and worry about it then and the best way of worrying about it less is to secure the #2 seed which would give us home court through the EC Finals. And if someone knocks off Cleveland, unlikely as that may be, then we'd have home court all the way to the Finals.

One more win, or one loss by Toronto, and we're there. First things first.


bob


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Hi,
I'd rather Celtics get seeding that'd minimize chances for playing Raptors.

AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
I'd rather Celtics get seeding that'd minimize chances for playing Raptors.

AK

Sinus,

I think the only way that happens is if Toronto slips to 4th.  That means we would get Washington in the 2nd round, assuming no upsets.  We cannot slip to 4th, Toronto must.  To do that they must lose to Cleveland and Washington has to go 2-0 and even then that would be a tie and I don't know who owns their tir-breaker.

You should have asked for this a few weeks ago.

I wasn't thinking about having to play Toronto, to be honest. Just that they are the second best team in the east right now.

Like it or not Ibaka and Tucker have given them more toughness and depth. Now that Lowry is back, they seem to be ready to hit on all cylinders for the playoff, to me.

I think they may give the Cav's all they want and then some.

and I think we may have problems getting out of the first round to be honest, at least they way we are playing in the past week or so.

how confident are you that we can beat the Pacers or Bucks in a series right now?

Maybe the bulls.

The Atlanta Hawks just beat Cleveland in OT.  Because rhey own the tiebreaker they need to lose their last 2 and we need to win our last two to end up #1.

They play the 2nd game of a b2b tomorrow in Miami, who is fighting for their playoff lives, and then vs Toronto in Cleveland.  We have Brooklyn and Milwaukee, both @ home.


bob


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bobheckler wrote:The Atlanta Hawks just beat Cleveland in OT.  Because rhey own the tiebreaker they need to lose their last 2 and we need to win our last two to end up #1.

They play the 2nd game of a b2b tomorrow in Miami, who is fighting for their playoff lives, and then vs Toronto in Cleveland.  We have Brooklyn and Milwaukee, both @ home.


bob


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We are tied record wise. They only need to loose 1 and we win both and we end up first

beat

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-playoff-picture-standings-predictions-magic-numbers-as-wild-east-far-from-settled/

Cavs got 2 seemingly tough games left At Miami and then home against the Raptors.

This thing is not over yet

dboss

dboss wrote:Cavs got 2 seemingly tough games left   At Miami and then home against the Raptors.

This thing is not over yet  

dboss

Cavs might only have one tough game left. If the Celtics beat the Nets tomorrow, Toronto can't catch us for the #2 seed. And Washington can't catch Toronto for the #3 seed. The Wiz are locked into #4.

So if we beat Bklyn tomorrow, Toronto will be locked into #3 and their final game against the Cavs will be meaningless to them. If that happens, you'll see them rest everybody.

steve3344 wrote:

dboss wrote:Cavs got 2 seemingly tough games left   At Miami and then home against the Raptors.

This thing is not over yet  

dboss

Cavs might only have one tough game left. If the Celtics beat the Nets tomorrow, Toronto can't catch us for the #2 seed. And Washington can't catch Toronto for the #3 seed. The Wiz are locked into #4.

So if we beat Bklyn tomorrow, Toronto will be locked into #3 and their final game against the Cavs will be meaningless to them. If that happens, you'll see them rest everybody.

Miami could beat Cavs at home. Cavs have been an average road team.

dboss

dboss wrote:

steve3344 wrote:

dboss wrote:Cavs got 2 seemingly tough games left   At Miami and then home against the Raptors.

This thing is not over yet  

dboss

Cavs might only have one tough game left. If the Celtics beat the Nets tomorrow, Toronto can't catch us for the #2 seed. And Washington can't catch Toronto for the #3 seed. The Wiz are locked into #4.

So if we beat Bklyn tomorrow, Toronto will be locked into #3 and their final game against the Cavs will be meaningless to them. If that happens, you'll see them rest everybody.

Miami could beat Cavs at home.  Cavs have been an average road team.  

dboss

You're missing my point. If we beat the Nets tonight Toronto is locked into the #3 slot. They then can't catch us and Washington can't catch them because the Raptors own the tiebreaker against the Wiz and Washington already trails Toronto by two games. Their game against the Cavs will be meaningless to them and they will rest everyone. Doesn't matter if Miami beats Cleveland. That game doesn't affect where Toronto finishes. Our game tonight against Bklyn does and we can decide that tonight with a win.

steve3344 wrote:

dboss wrote:

steve3344 wrote:

dboss wrote:Cavs got 2 seemingly tough games left   At Miami and then home against the Raptors.

This thing is not over yet  

dboss

Cavs might only have one tough game left. If the Celtics beat the Nets tomorrow, Toronto can't catch us for the #2 seed. And Washington can't catch Toronto for the #3 seed. The Wiz are locked into #4.

So if we beat Bklyn tomorrow, Toronto will be locked into #3 and their final game against the Cavs will be meaningless to them. If that happens, you'll see them rest everybody.

Miami could beat Cavs at home.  Cavs have been an average road team.  

dboss

You're missing my point. If we beat the Nets tonight Toronto is locked into the #3 slot. They then can't catch us and Washington can't catch them because the Raptors own the tiebreaker against the Wiz and Washington already trails Toronto by two games. Their game against the Cavs will be meaningless to them and they will rest everyone. Doesn't matter if Miami beats Cleveland. That game doesn't affect where Toronto finishes. Our game tonight against Bklyn does and we can decide that tonight with a win.

Steve and dboss,

Taking this the next step, assuming we win tonight vs Brooklyn and lock Toronto into 3rd:

If we end up in 2nd, then our 2nd round opponent is likely to be Toronto.

If we end up in 1st, then our 2nd round opponent is likely to be Washington.

Washington is one of the worst road teams in the EC Playoff picture, so I would much rather have them with us having home court.

Miami needs the win against Cleveland to have a chance of the playoffs.  They might not have the guns to win, but they'll be fighting like hellcats.

The Toronto/Cleveland game will be a war because they know they might meet again and they'll be measuring up.


Brooklyn has been playing very well since the All-Star game, our #1 pick opportunity should not have been that close.  Milwaukee is also playing great.  NOT easy games for us.


bob


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Miami beat Cleveland in OT. If Toronto beats them and we beat Milwaukee we will have the #1 seed. That would mean we wouldn't see Cleveland or Toronto until the EC Finals, and that would be just fine with me.


bob


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Another positive for us:

Brian Robb @CelticsHub
now
If Hawks win Tuesday night, Bucks will have nothing to play for Wednesday against Boston. They will be locked into No. 6.
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bob


.

Bob,
We don't need Toronto's help. We beat Mil and we're the top seed!

willjr wrote:Bob,
We don't need Toronto's help. We beat Mil and we're the top seed!

Absolutely.  Beat the Bucks and we lock up #1 in the East.  Doesn't matter what the Cavs do as they now trail us by one game.

We are one game up on the Cavs with one game to go.

The magic number is 1.

1 win by us, 1 loss by them and we are the #1 seed in the East!!