The Boston Celtics will face the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs after a win by the Indiana Pacers Wednesday locked in the final standings in the Eastern Conference.
With the Pacers beating the Houston Rockets, the Sixers were locked into the sixth seed less than 24 hours after Boston sewed up the third seed, setting the two teams on a postseason collision course for the third time in as many years.
Philadelphia will be without starting point forward Ben Simmons, who had surgery this week after a knee subluxation forced the Australian’s convalescence, unlikely to return this season barring the deepest of playoff runs.
With the Pacers win, the Eastern Conference playoffs are set:
1 Milwaukee vs 8 Orlando
4 Miami/Indiana vs 5 Indiana/Miami
3 Boston vs 6 Philadelphia
2 Toronto vs 7 Brooklyn— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) August 12, 2020
All-Star center Joel Embiid has also been dealing with ankle soreness sustained against the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this week, but returned to action against the Toronto Raptors Wednesday.
Boston on the other hand, has a clean bill of health with All-Star point guard Kemba Walker looking like himself after some mild knee soreness at the start of the resumed season and the rest of the team’s six best players taking the Thursday afternoon contest against the Washington Wizards bench mob off.
The other matches in the first round of the East playoffs will pit the No. 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks against the No. 8 seeded Orlando Magic, the No. 2 Toronto Raptors against the No. 7 Brooklyn Nets, and while we don’t know yet which of the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat will be the four or five seed, it matters little given those two teams will face each other to start the playoffs.
Celtics to sit 6 best players vs. Wizards in final Disney seeding game https://t.co/Q0P11h0mDg
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) August 12, 2020
That sets up Boston to face the winner of Brooklyn vs. Toronto, and if they can get past the Raptors, they’ll presumably face the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals barring an upset from the Magic or the winners of Miami vs. Indiana.
It’s about as good of a postseason picture as one might hope for given Philadelphia’s loss of Simmons, but it will by no means be a cakewalk at any juncture.
With some rest and the sort of play we’ve seen from the Celtics in the best of their seeding games so far, they have a shot at making the NBA finals.
But it all comes down to how well they can duplicate that aggressive connected play.
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