Boston Celtics Clinch Improbable Playoff Berth and Monday NBA Takeaways
In the Eastern Conference, anything is possible.
Despite starting the season 20-33, the Boston Celtics are on their way to the playoffs after the Brooklyn Nets were blown out by the Chicago Bulls, 113-86, Monday night.
Owning a 1.5-game lead and the tiebreaker over the Nets, Boston is safely in following a one-year postseason absence.
And even though a first-round matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers likely awaits, Celtics play-by-play man Sean Grande reiterated that Boston has yet to solidify its seed with two games remaining:
The Celtics—who have won four straight following back-to-back victories over the resting Cleveland Cavaliers—will close out their schedule with a home game against the Toronto Raptors and a road meeting with the sixth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
| 1. Atlanta* | 60-21 | 0.0 | 1. Golden State* | 66-15 | 0.0 |
| 2. Cleveland* | 52-29 | 8.0 | 2. San Antonio* | 55-26 | 11.0 |
| 3. Chicago* | 49-32 | 11.0 | 3. L.A. Clippers | 55-26 | 11.0 |
| 4. Toronto* | 48-32 | 11.5 | 4. Portland* | 51-30 | 15.0 |
| 5. Washington* | 46-34 | 13.5 | 5. Houston* | 55-26 | 11.0 |
| 6. Milwaukee* | 41-40 | 19.0 | 6. Memphis* | 54-27 | 12.0 |
| 7. Boston* | 38-42 | 21.5 | 7. Dallas* | 49-32 | 17.0 |
| 8. Indiana | 37-43 | 22.5 | 8. New Orleans | 44-37 | 22.0 |
| 9. Brooklyn | 37-44 | 23.0 | 9. Oklahoma City | 44-37 | 22.0 |
| 10. Miami | 36-45 | 24.0 | 10. Phoenix | 39-42 | 27.0 |
While the Celtics punched their ticket on a night they were idle, their late-season run wasn't facilitated solely by a woeful East.
Yes, the sub-.500 struggles consuming the race for the East's seventh and eighth seeds provided an extra boost, but the Celtics have been objectively excellent since acquiring Isaiah Thomas at the trade deadline.
Dating back to Feb. 20, Boston is 18-11, which trails only the Cavaliers' 19-7 record for the best mark among Eastern Conference teams in that span. The only other clubs with superior win totals are the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz.
On the efficiency spectrum, Boston has touted the league's ninth-best defense since the trade deadline and benefited from an offense that's produced at league-average rates commensurate with the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks.
For a team Thomas believed was "one of the worst teams in the NBA" upon arriving in Boston, according to MassLive.com's Jay King, that's remarkable.
But if anyone has the right to speak up regarding the Celtics' late-season progress, it's Thomas.
Averaging 19.5 points and 5.4 assists since first suiting up on the parquet, Thomas has bolstered his Sixth Man of the Year credentials with invaluable bouts of scoring that kept Boston breathing in its quest to secure a playoff spot. When he's been on the floor, the Celtics offense has produced like the Clippers' league-best unit, according to NBA.com, which is no small feat.
Given that Boston entered mid-February scoring at a lower rate than the Los Angeles Lakers, Thomas doesn't just deserve hardware for his efforts—he needs a key to the city.
And sure, the Celtics' postseason stay will likely be short. But their developmental progress points to a future brimming with playoff possibilities.
"It’s everything," Thomas said of the postseason, according to Celtics.com following Sunday's 117-78 win over Cleveland. "In my NBA career I haven’t been to the playoffs so it’s something that I want to experience. I heard it’s fun, it’s exciting and it’s a new season. Once you make the playoffs, everybody’s 0-0 and it’s a new season so I’m excited about it, hopefully we do get it."
Go ahead and pinch yourself, Isaiah. The playoffs aren't a dream anymore—they're a reality.
Breaking Down Western Conference Playoff Scenarios
With the Los Angeles Clippers' 110-103 win over the Denver Nuggets, the Memphis Grizzlies' loss to the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets' second straight win, here's a simplified look at how the West can shake out based on current standings.
- Golden State: Locked into the No. 1 seed with home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
- San Antonio: Clinches No. 2 seed and Southwest Division title with a win against New Orleans or losses by Houston and L.A..
- Los Angeles: Clinches No. 2 seed with a win and losses by Houston and San Antonio. A win Tuesday versus Phoenix clinches no worse than the No. 3 seed.
- Portland: Has clinched the No. 4 seed but will not host a first-round playoff series.
- Houston: A win over Utah ensures home-court advantage in the first round and no worse than the No. 5 seed. A win and Spurs loss gives Houston the No. 2 seed and division title. A loss and Memphis win versus Indiana drops Houston into the No. 6 seed, but a win and Clippers loss can net Houston the No. 3 seed.
- Memphis: A win and Houston loss bumps Memphis into the No. 5 seed. Mathematically, Memphis can't clinch higher than No. 5.
- Dallas: Locked into the No. 7 seed.
- New Orleans: Clinches the No. 8 seed with a win over San Antonio or an Oklahoma City loss to Minnesota.
- Oklahoma City: Clinches the No. 8 seed with a Pelicans loss to San Antonio and a win over Minnesota.
For a complete look at the win-loss combinations needed to determine seeds two, three, five and six, consult this handy chart from CBS Sports' Matt Moore.
Around the Association
Oklahoma City and New Orleans Will Go Down to the Wire
The New Orleans Pelicans had a shot to finalize the West's postseason field Monday night, but the Oklahoma City Thunder had other ideas.
Dueling with the banged-up Portland Trail Blazers, the Thunder kept their playoff hopes alive for one more night after downing the Northwest Division champions, 101-90, at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Russell Westbrook led the way with 36 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and one nifty alley-oop:
New Orleans took care of business with a 100-88 win over the downtrodden Minnesota Timberwolves, but it needed a Thunder loss to officially clinch the West's eighth and final playoff spot.
The Pelicans control their own destiny, but the Spurs aren't going to roll over with a division title on the line.
Get your popcorn ready.
The East Is Almost Settled
Because the Brooklyn Nets got confused and thought the regular season was already over (how else do you explain that egg they laid in a spiritless 113-86 loss to the Chicago Bulls?), the Celtics punched their playoff tickets.
Officially.
Good for them, right? It's always fun when rebuilding years yield unexpected, ahead-of-schedule progress.
The failure wasn't fatal for the Nets, even though they fell into ninth in the East and lost control of their playoff destiny. Because Brooklyn owns the tiebreaker over the Indiana Pacers, it can still make the dance if it gets some help, per Tim Bontemps of the New York Post:
Your thoughts, Lloyd Christmas?
The win helped the Bulls quite a bit, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
Meanwhile, the Miami Heat clung to life with a 100-93 defeat of the Orlando Magic, who, for all intents and purposes, were better off losing anyway.
The Heat have to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in their season finale and then get a boatload of help from everyone else to reach the postseason. Miami needs the Indiana Pacers and the Nets to lose all of their remaining games, per B/R's Ethan Skolnick:
Incredibly, four teams that entered Monday's play with a shot at the bottom two spots in the East will still be alive on Tuesday.
Time's running out, though, and one more loss for either the Heat or Nets will simplify things dramatically.
— Contributed by Grant Hughes
Klay Thompson Greased the Grizz
Klay Thompson's latest scoring barrage—this one coming in a 111-107 destruction* of the Memphis Grizzlies—prompted important questions about the hierarchy of grease heat.
"The night he had 37, everybody said he was hot as fish grease," Jerry Stackhouse said on NBATV's Sprint Halftime Report. "I don't know what he's as hot as tonight."
"What's hotter than fish grease?" host Matt Winer wondered.
Steve Smith ventured a guess: "Peanut oil?"
This is where we are with Thompson now, the only player in the Dubs locker room (or on the planet) capable of getting hotter than potential MVP Stephen Curry. He drilled his first eight shots in the game and then really heated up.
The guy who set the NBA record with 37 points in the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 23 scored 26 points in the second quarter against the Grizzlies on Monday, on the way to a halftime total of 37.
It got a little ridiculous.
Thompson had actually been slumping coming into the contest, shooting just 38.8 percent from the field in April. After setting the season high in first-half scoring and finishing with 42 in just 30 minutes (Thompson didn't play in the fourth quarter), it's safe to say the slump is over.
Thompson now owns this season's highs for scoring in a quarter and in both halves.
And he isn't the best shooter on his team.
Best of luck to the rest of the West against the top-seeded Warriors this postseason.
*Don't be confused by the final score. Golden State led this one by 30 for huge stretches and basically snoozed through the fourth quarter with an all-reserve cast.
— Contributed by Grant Hughes
Batum Goes the Dynamite
One day, the Portland Trail Blazers will be healthy.
Just don't expect that day to come before October.
As if injuries to LaMarcus Aldridge (sore foot), Dorell Wright (broken hand), Arron Afflalo (strained shoulder) and Wesley Matthews (torn Achilles) weren't bad enough, swingman Nicolas Batum departed Monday's loss in the second quarter with a right knee injury and did not return, per Blazers PR:
Sixth man C.J. McCollum was clipped by the injury bug shortly thereafter, suffering an ankle sprain just before halftime:
At this point, grabbing the No. 5 seed and a first-round matchup with Portland is looking like the easiest path to a second-round appearance. The Blazers have already been stripped of home-court advantage in the first round, their defense continues to hemorrhage points and they won't be back at full strength until the start of next season.
Houston Holds Steady as Harden Makes History
James Harden led the way with 29 points (14-of-16 from the free-throw line), six assists and six rebounds to help the Houston Rockets score a 100-90 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
By making 16 trips to the charity stripe, Harden also made some volume-scoring history, according to the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen:
Meeting those benchmarks in a single season will henceforth be known as a "Morey", in honor of the Rockets' analytically-enthused general manager.
With the victory, Houston officially surpassed last season's win total and has tallied 55 triumphs for the first time since Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady led the charge in 2007-08.
The Rockets will wrap up their regular-season slate Wednesday with a home tilt against the Utah Jazz.
Two Final Dunk of the Year Candidates For Your Consideration
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Andrew Wiggins must have idolized Vince Carter quite a bit while growing up.
In the first quarter of Minnesota's loss to New Orleans, Wiggins met Omer Asik midair with a body bump and continued hanging in the air to throw down a vicious one-handed slam over the Turkish center:
Alonzo Mourning can sympathize, Omer.
But Wiggins wasn't the only rookie rattling rims.
Utah's Bryce Cotton went full-extension to cram home a wicked left-handed lob in the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks:
That's how you close out a final home game.
LeBron Nabs Another Triple-Double
Entering April, LeBron James didn't have a triple-double to his name this season.
Now in the span of four games, James has racked up two, with his most recent coming in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 109-97 romp of the Detroit Pistons.
By tallying 21 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, James has totaled 39 triple-doubles over the course of his career—which is tops among all active players, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
Counting playoff performances, James is now at the half-century mark, according to ESPN Stats & Info:
LeBron needs four more to pass Fat Lever and move into third place all-time behind Jason Kidd (107) and Magic Johnson (69).
J.R. Smith, care to comment on the MVP race?
All right then.
Milwaukee Gets New Logos, and a Win
Monday was a night marked by the convergence of old and new for the Bucks.
Not only did the team unveil three new logos, as NBA TV displayed, but point guard Michael Carter-Williams returned to the City of Brotherly Love for the first time since being traded by the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 19.
Carter-Williams, who was welcomed back with a video tribute, according to the Philadelphia Daily News' Bob Cooney, tied his season high with 30 points (11-of-17 shooting), including 14 in the first quarter.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (12 points) continued to partake in freaky acts of wonder, breaking out a silky smooth spin move before hammering home a fierce two-handed slam:
With the 107-97 win, Milwaukee ensured its first season at .500 or better since the 2009-10 campaign.
