{"id":13712,"date":"2018-03-14T15:38:04","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T19:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=13712"},"modified":"2018-03-16T09:35:46","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T13:35:46","slug":"boston-celtics-benefit-losing-wizards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2018\/03\/14\/boston-celtics-benefit-losing-wizards\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics Would Benefit from Losing to Washington Wizards Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given the way that the NBA feels about teams tanking during nationally televised games, Adam Silver will probably fine me for writing this column. But here it goes. The Boston Celtics<\/a> should lose on Wednesday against the Washington Wizards<\/a> on ESPN. Yes, the Celtics are a contender, and no, they\u2019re not tanking for a draft pick. Yet, they\u2019d still benefit from losing against their rival Wizards.<\/p>\n

Boston Celtics Would Benefit from Losing to Washington Wizards Wednesday Night<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Current Standings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

First, the Celtics have almost no chance at the first overall seed in the Eastern Conference. As of Tuesday evening, Celtics are four games back of the Toronto Raptors<\/a>, who aren\u2019t slowing down for anything. Kyrie Irving<\/strong><\/a> is dealing with knee soreness, while Marcus Smart<\/strong><\/a> has a torn thumb tendon. Jaylen Brown<\/strong><\/a> has a concussion, while Daniel Theis<\/strong><\/a> is out for the year with a torn meniscus.<\/p>\n

Put simply, the Celtics are not going to catch the Raptors with just 15 games left in the season. But they\u2019re also 6.5 games up on the Indiana Pacers for the second seed, meaning that they\u2019re pretty much locked into the 2nd seed.<\/p>\n

Given that their seeding is all but assured, the Celtics\u2019 first and second round opponents are what matters most at this point. The Celtics do not want to face the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> in Round 2. Remember last year, when the Celtics won a thrilling Game 7 on May 15 against the Wizards thanks to Kelly Olynyk<\/strong><\/a> and Isaiah<\/strong> Thomas<\/strong><\/a> and then won the NBA Draft Lottery on May 16? Celtics fans were feeling pretty good about their franchise. And then, on May 17, they weren\u2019t. The Cavs came into the TD Garden and took a 22 point halftime lead.<\/p>\n

The Wizards, Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers<\/a>, and Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> are all duking it out for the third seed. The two teams, who finished with the 4th and 5th seeds, have to play each other in Round 1 and likely the Raptors in Round 2. Therefore, it\u2019s in the Celtics\u2019 best interest for the Cavs to finish in either the 4th or 5th slot, clearing the Celtics to face the Pacers or Wizards in Round 2, instead of LeBron James<\/strong><\/a> and his minions.<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers Still a Huge Threat<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Any Celtics fan who says they\u2019re not scared of the Cavs is lying. Sure, the Celtics have Kyrie this year, but the Cavs have LeBron and a roster that isn\u2019t dealing with approximately 473 injuries. LeBron has a 16-1 record in the playoffs against Al Horford<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and, if their two teams were to face again in the playoffs, LeBron\u2019s team would likely get\u00a020 wins.<\/p>\n

And I haven\u2019t even mentioned the Toronto Raptors as a playoff matchup yet. The Raptors and their perimeter scoring are a tough matchup for the Boston Celtics, especially if Marcus Smart is out.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s imperative for Boston that Toronto and Cleveland face each other in Round 2. If the Cavs and Raptors can beat each other up for six or seven games \u2013 while the Boston Celtics can delay facing either one of them until the Conference Finals \u2013 the Celtics are in a much better position than facing LeBron right after he\u2019s probably swept another first round opponent, like he does every year.<\/p>\n

Also, a significant factor is the slight possibility of a Gordon Hayward<\/strong><\/a> return for the Celtics. We shouldn\u2019t count on it, but Hayward wouldn\u2019t rule out a return last week. Holding off the Cavs\/Raptors until Round 3 would give Hayward another two weeks to come back.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re still not sold, think of it this way: Which path to the Finals would you rather have?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A) Round 1: Milwaukee Bucks. Round 2: Pacers\/Wizards. Round 3: Cavs\/Raptors.<\/li>\n
  2. B) Round 2: Bucks.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Round 2: Cavs\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Round 3: Raptors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Exactly. If you\u2019re a Boston Celtics fan, root for a loss on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Boston Celtics should lose on Wednesday against the Washington Wizards on ESPN. Yes, the Celtics are a contender, and no, they\u2019re not tanking for a draft pick. Yet, they\u2019d still benefit from losing against their rival Wizards.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1521,"featured_media":13175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,62,18],"tags":[250,302,39,1494,49,450,517,406,38,428,219,225,318],"class_list":["post-13712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celtics","category-nba","category-wizards","tag-al-horford","tag-boston-celtics","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-daniel-theis","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-kelly-olynyk","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-lebron-james","tag-marcus-smart","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-toronto-raptors"],"modified_by":"Lior Kozai (Managing Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}