The Boston Celtics are slated to face off against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday for the final game of the regular season. C's head coach Brad Stevens has announced that he intends to give his main guys some rest for this one, with the playoffs fast approaching.
Brad Stevens said the #Celtics top 7 will play "a lot less, if at all" in the season finale vs the #Wizards.
— A. Sherrod Blakely (@ASherrodblakely) April 8, 2019
You can't really blame coach Stevens for making this decision. If anything, it's actually a pretty smart move, considering the fact that the team won't be playing for anything more.
The Celtics will be entering the playoffs as the fourth seed no matter what. Despite being only one game ahead of the fifth-placed Indiana Pacers, Boston will still hold on to the fourth spot even if they were to lose their final game.
Should Indiana secure a victory against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, they would tie the Celtics at 48-34. However, Boston holds a 4-1 regular season matchup advantage against Indiana, which means that if it must go down to a tie-breaker, the Celtics will still come out on top and retain the fourth seed.
This simply means that Boston will be entering the first-round series against the Pacers (the Brooklyn Nets are the sixth seed, but are six games behind Indiana, so the Pacers are likewise safe at the fifth spot) with the homecourt advantage.
This advantage might prove to be pivotal for the Celtics especially considering the fact that Pacers' single win against them in the regular season happened to be in Indiana's home floor.
Whatever the case may be, this matchup certainly has the makings of an epic first-round encounter between two formidable sides.
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