Celtics Playoffs 2024

I will continue to update the "Playoff Seeding and Magic Numbers" thread as things change through the Play-In tournament, since the playoff seedings will not be finalized until after we know who will be coming out of that tournament.  Our first game will be on Sunday against fill_in_the_blank, which means the play-ins will be going through Friday.  My last post on that thread, therefore, will be this coming Saturday and that final update will be conveyed to this playoff thread.

I agree with DBoss.  We should create an "NBA Playoff" thread that follows everybody else; or even two threads, one that is for non-Celtic EC Playoff series and one for WC playoffs, since they both matter but in different ways and in different immediacies.  That thread, or threads, should be created no later than this Saturday as well, for the same reasons.


Bob


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Bob and dboss,

I created a Play-In Tournament 2024 thread. That can be the bridge to the East/West Conference Playoff thread(s) which, as you say, should be created by Saturday. I imagine the brackets will be available once the 8th Seed Games are in the books.

Steve Bulpett
@SteveBHoop
Celtics have a schedule. Just waiting on a dance partner.




Bob


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db,

CHI has their own injury problems.



Ouch.

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla points out the play as the Celtics take on the Knicks at the Garden on April 11. (Staff Photo/Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)


By STEVE HEWITT | stephen.hewitt@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald
PUBLISHED:  April 16, 2024 at 4:56 p.m.



It seemed like Jrue Holiday was joking when he said last week Joe Mazzulla would probably put the Celtics through some “crazy ass drills” to keep them sharp during the week off leading into the playoffs.


Maybe he wasn’t joking.


The Celtics returned to the Auerbach Center practice floor on Tuesday, and with a week off and their first-round opponent still unknown, the session was intense.


“Probably harder than any training camp practice we had,” Al Horford said. “Just a lot of pace. It was very productive.”


That was by design. The practice was closed to the media, but it lasted at least two hours and the session could be heard loudly through closed doors. There was pumped-in crowd noise and in-arena music blared through the speakers consistently to simulate a game atmosphere. Derrick White said the practice included toughness drills and moving without the ball.


With a playoff run that is expected to reach June, Mazzulla wanted to reset the standard.


“That’s what today is, a training camp for the playoffs,” Mazzulla said. “Everyone goes back to square one, you got to reestablish the habits and the things you build throughout the year. At the same time, don’t take them for granted. I thought the guys did a good job, with the physical and mental approach to a day like today.


“Today’s like the first day of a long journey, however long that may be.”


The first chapter will start on Sunday with Game 1 of the first round, but the Celtics will have to wait until Friday night to know who their opponent is. The 76ers face the Heat on Wednesday for the No. 7 seed. The loser will face the winner of Wednesday’s Bulls-Hawks game on Friday to determine the No. 8 seed, who will play the Celtics.


Until then, there’s not much the Celtics can do other than work on themselves.


“I think it’s as simple as, regardless of who you play in the playoffs, it’s no different than the regular season,” Mazzulla said. “It comes down to the margins, the style, and the system in which we play. That’s really what it is. So between now and Friday, we’ll hammer home us getting better as a team, and how we can continue to work the margins on both ends of the floor. And understand the playoffs, there’s obviously more attention on it, but winning a basketball game comes down to all the same things.”


White next?

From the day Holiday stepped foot in Boston after his sudden trade on the eve of training camp, Brad Stevens has seen a selfless player willing to do whatever it takes in pursuit of another championship. On a loaded team that includes multiple All-Stars, he’s proven to be a great fit and easy decision to retain as the Celtics locked him into a four-year extension last week.


“Jrue came here, joined our team, and all he tried to do was add to winning,” Stevens said. “And for a guy that is as accomplished as he is, that’s used to more usage, more reps, more touches, and all those other things, that never even came into play. All that came into play was, what kind of a teammate am I being and can I help us win? …


“I’ve been really impressed with Jrue and I think that, as you look at a person like him, and you think about the long term of a group, you think, obviously, you need really good players and guys that can play on both ends of the court. But you also want people that the young players can look up to and he is a person they should look up to, and certainly do look up to.”


With Holiday, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis already extended, and Jayson Tatum likely to receive the supermax this summer, four of the Celtics’ five starters are locked up long term. That means White – who has one year remaining on his contract – is next up for an extension. The C’s certainly want to keep as much of this championship-level core intact as possible, but it will come with an even steeper price if they extend White.


“I can’t talk about much with things that we’re not allowed to discuss until July 1,” Stevens said. “Derrick’s having an amazing year. Derrick’s a huge, huge part of our team and we want him around for as long as we can keep him around.”


Bob

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We've had a nice week off.  Starting Sunday it will be time to let the jackals and hyenas who's the King of the Jungle.




Bob


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Here is a link to the Celtics-Heat playoff series:

https://www.nba.com/playoffs/2024/east-first-round-1

Also:

NBA Playoffs: What to expect in Celtics-Heat series

https://www.nba.com/news/2024-nba-playoffs-series-preview-celtics-heat

Familiar foes, Boston and Miami will meet in the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 seasons.

John Schuhmann
April 19, 2024 11:37 PM



A rematch of the last 2 Eastern Conference Finals awaits in the 1st round this year. Game 1 is Sunday in Boston.

After one of the best regular seasons in NBA history, the Boston Celtics are the clear favorite to reach the NBA Finals out of the Eastern Conference. Their biggest threats – Milwaukee, New York and Philadelphia – are on the other side of the bracket and either dealing with injuries or have a star trying to work their way back from a long absence.

The Celtics’ first-round opponent has also been shorthanded. The Miami Heat were without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier on Friday, and while they managed to beat the Chicago Bulls by 21 points to earn the No. 8 seed, they aren’t expected to have Butler for this series.

Boston swept the three regular-season meetings, with its 143 points on just 96 possessions (149 per 100) on Jan. 25 being the most efficient offensive performance the Heat have allowed in the 28 seasons for which we have play-by-play data.

Series schedule

Here’s how to watch the Celtics vs. Heat series:

All times Eastern Standard Time

Game 1: Heat vs. Celtics, Sunday, April 21 (1 p.m., ABC)
Game 2: Heat vs. Celtics, Wednesday, April 24 (7 p.m., TNT)
Game 3: Celtics vs. Heat, Saturday, April 27 (6 p.m., TNT)
Game 4: Celtics vs. Heat, Monday, April 29 (TBD, TBD)
Game 5: Heat vs. Celtics, Wednesday, May 1 (TBD, TBD)*
Game 6: Celtics vs. Heat, Friday, May 3 (TBD, TBD)*
Game 7: Heat vs. Celtics, Sunday, May 5 (TBD, TBD)*
* = If necessary

Top storyline

TCB. These teams have a history, with this being their fourth playoff meeting in the last five years. And we’ve learned that we should never dismiss the Heat, who beat the top two seeds in the East (including Boston) last year on their way to the Finals. If any Eastern Conference opponent can put some doubt in the Celtics’ heads, it’s this one.

But primarily, this series is about the Celtics’ ability to take care of business. They ranked in the top two on both ends of the floor and had the fifth-best point differential in NBA history. They’re healthy, and if they play anything close to their best basketball, this should be a short series. They need to have their foot on the gas at the start of Game 1 and keep it there throughout until the job is done.

Keep your eyes on

Zone defense. For the second straight season, the Heat led the league in the percentage of defensive possessions (13.4%) on which they played zone, according to Synergy tracking. The Celtics’ offense ranked seventh with 1.12 points per possession against zone this season, though they didn’t see much of the Miami zone (16 total possessions) over the three regular-season meetings.

They saw a good amount of it in last year’s conference finals, scoring an anemic 85 points on 112 zone possessions (0.76 per) over the seven games. They can expect to see more in this series, and the zone can stifle the Celtics’ drive-and-kick game, keep them out of the paint, and put them into late-clock situations.

Of course, the Celtics didn’t have Kristaps Porzingis last year, and there’s nobody in the league with a better ability to shoot over the top of a zone than the 7-foot-2 big man looking to win a playoff series for the first time in his career.

1 more thing to watch for each team

For Boston: Bench play. We knew the Celtics had the best top six in the league. We didn’t know they would be at their best with Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard on the floor. Their aggregate bench NetRtg (point differential per 100 possessions) with reserves on the floor was plus-6.2, the best mark for any team in the 28 seasons for which we have play-by-play data.

Hauser and Pritchard will certainly be targeted by opponents in the playoffs. If they can hold up defensively, they Celtics can continue to dominate their minutes on the floor and extend leads when their best players are resting.

For Miami: Secondary creation. The Heat probably won’t have Butler, but they will have Tyler Herro, who missed (almost all of) last year’s playoffs and led the way with 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in Miami’s Play-In victory over Chicago on Friday.

But they’ll need somebody else to create offense off the dribble in order to make this series interesting. That could be Rozier, who’s missed the last six games with neck spasms. It could be Caleb Martin, who was almost the MVP of the conference finals last year, averaging 19.3 points on 60% shooting over the seven games. It could be rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., who’s averaged 18.5 points (on 50% shooting) and 5.5 assists over the last four. And they’ll probably need great series from at least two of those three guys.

1 key number to know

-8.3% – Jrue Holiday had a usage rate of just 16.1% this season, the lowest mark of his career and down from 24.4% in 2022-23. That (-8.3%) was the biggest drop, by a wide margin, among 209 players that played at least 1,000 minutes in each of the last two seasons. The two-time All-Star has embraced a smaller role in a stacked starting lineup with a new team, and it’s worked for both him and the Celtics.

Holiday had his most efficient scoring season of his 15-year career, registering a true shooting percentage of 59.7%. The Celtics had the most efficient offense in NBA history, scoring 122.2 points per 100 possessions. And Holiday wasn’t the only guy sacrificing shots, with both Jaylen Brown (from 30.7% to 28.3%) and Jayson Tatum (from 31.9% to 29.6%) also seeing not-insignificant drops in usage rate.

The Celtics ranked second offensively last season and had the second most improved offense this season. They’re more dangerous in part because they’re more balanced.

The pick

Celtics in four. The Heat have proven to be a resilient group, and the Celtics struggled against the zone in last year’s conference finals. And Boston has some recent postseason demons beyond that.

But the Celtics are simply the much better team, especially with Butler unlikely to play. While Miami was able to stifle the Bulls’ 19th-ranked offense to get here, it now faces a much tougher challenge. The Celtics are a machine and they shouldn’t have much trouble reaching the conference semifinals for the seventh time in the last eight years.