Celtics

The Celtics are wrapping up their final week of the regular season. Here’s what’s ahead for the playoffs

Myles Turner (left) and the Pacers are trying to edge Kelly Olynyk (right) and the Heat to earn a higher playoff seed and avoid the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.

By Matthew Doherty

August 11, 2020

The Celtics are entering the final stretch of their regular season, with one last “regular-season” matchup scheduled for Thursday at noon.

Boston will face the Washington Wizards, who are winless in Orlando and already eliminated from postseason contention.

Thanks to a four-game winning streak, Boston is locked in as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. In the East, two first-round series are already locked in. Milwaukee is the top seed and will play Orlando in the first round, while Toronto is the second seed and will open up its title defense against Brooklyn.

The Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers on Monday night and have clinched at least the No. 5 seed. Both teams face each other again on Friday in a pivotal seeding game.

The Celtics will play Indiana or Philadelphia in the first round.

Philly is currently the No. 6 seed. In order to leapfrog Indiana, the 76ers must win their last two games — against Toronto and Houston — and the Pacers must lose their last two games — against Houston and Miami.

Unless that happens, the Celtics will open up the playoffs against the Sixers, who had a tough weekend. They lost Ben Simmons to a likely season-ending surgery on Saturday, and then watched Joel Embiid leave Sunday’s contest against the Blazers with a left ankle injury.