Celtics playoff picture: Boston strengthens hold on East’s No. 2 seed

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Celtics playoff picture: Boston strengthens hold on East’s No. 2 seed

Souichi Terada · MassLive

Sat, Apr 4, 2026 ·

3 min read

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The Celtics are playing some of their best basketball just a couple weeks ahead of the playoffs. This time, the C's dominated the Bucks on Friday in Milwaukee . They're now 52-25 on the season, getting closer and closer to securing the No. 2 seed in the East.

The Knicks also beat the Bulls in a blowout Friday, so they're still keeping the pressure on the Celtics . But with only five games left in the regular season, the C's are in a strong position to fend off the Knicks for the No. 2 seed. Boston remains in a tough spot to land the No. 1 seed over the Pistons . There's still some work to do in the coming week, but the Celtics are in a comfortable spot to finish in second in the East.

"I wasn't sure if I was even going to have this opportunity to play playoff basketball this year," Jayson Tatum said after the Bucks victory, via the NBC Sports Boston broadcast. "Just knowing that it's around the corner, I'm grateful, excited."

Here's a look at the current East standings following Friday's slate of games:

Place	Team	Wins	Losses	Games back
No. 1	Detroit Pistons	56	21	--
No. 2	Boston Celtics	52	25	4
No. 3	New York Knicks	50	28	6.5
No. 4	Cleveland Cavaliers	48	29	8
No. 5	Atlanta Hawks	45	33	11.5
No. 6	Philadelphia 76ers	43	34	13
No. 7	Toronto Raptors	43	34	13
No. 8	Charlotte Hornets	42	36	14.5
No. 9	Orlando Magic	41	36	15
No. 10	Miami Heat	40	37	16

The Celtics and Knicks meet for the final time this season April 9 in New York, so that's a huge game in the standings. Notably, the Knicks own the tiebreaker over the Celtics no matter what happens that game, so Boston needs to make sure it isn't tied with New York at the end of the season.

The Celtics' next five opponents are: vs. Raptors, vs. Hornets, at Knicks, vs. Pelicans and vs. Magic. The Knicks' next four opponents are: at Hawks, vs. Celtics, vs. Raptors and vs. Hornets. Other than the Celtics' game facing the Pelicans, every other matchup features a team either in playoff or play-in contention. So there aren't going to be any easy nights going forward.

In looking around the East, each team fighting for the playoffs earned a victory. The Raptors, Hornets, Magic, Hawks and 76ers all won Friday. Those are all huge results at this point in the season. The Nos. 5-10 slots have been jumbled over the past couple weeks and there wasn't much more clarity following Friday's results.

If the Celtics maintain their No. 2 spot in the East, then C's fans will have their eyes on the play-in tournament once again. Boston would face the winner of Raptors vs. Hornets in the first round of the playoffs. The 76ers are tied with the Raptors, but they own the tiebreaker courtesy of division record. But even those opponents are still up in the air as a lot can change over the final week of the regular season.

Regardless, the Celtics remain in a strong position ahead of the playoffs. They've won five of their last six games, including against some of the hottest teams in the NBA. A couple weeks ago, it looked like New York had the chance to overtake Boston, but all the C's have done is win games since then.

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