OKC Thunder: Dissecting 16 playoff seeds and 4 WC team records

Boston Celtics:

• 64 games played (43-21)
• Record versus seeded teams: 33 occasions (18-15)
• Record versus lottery teams: 31 occasions (25-6).
• Home record (23-9)
• Road record: (20-12)
• Back to back sets: Eight played (8-8)
  • one with both teams seeded (0-2)
  • five with one seed/one lottery seed (5-5)
  • two with both teams in the lottery (3-1).

The Celtics have constancy and youth on their side but also dealt with a bunch of injuries to their core this season.  Each of Kemba Walker (14), Gordon Hayward (19), Jaylen Brown (14), and Marcus Smart (11) missed more than 10 games so they’ll need to be particularly cognizant of minutes to avoid soft tissue injuries.

Although the Celtics played well on the road they weren’t as effective in back-to-back sets which might speak to their depth. Mike Greenberg of ‘Get Up’ cited their youth and depth as reasons the Celtics could be a dark horse but if games are played without the typical two days off but their performance in the back-to-back sets says otherwise.

As per the previous team notes, the Celtics are one game back of the Clippers for fourth overall, trail the Raptors by three games. The teams trying to move on Boston is the Heat in the East who trail them by three games while the Nuggets (0.5 back) are hot on their tails for fifth overall and the Jazz (two games back).