A day after Malcolm Brogdon said that re-obtaining the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference was important, the Boston Celtics went out with minimal effort and got blown out by the Washington Wizards with six games remaining in the regular season.

At this point, it’s safe to say the Celtics will finish as the second seed, considering their three-game lead over Philadelphia. Which makes Tuesday’s loss to Washington hurt that much more, as the C’s had a chance to close the gap between Milwaukee, who hold a 2.5 game-lead over Boston, as well as setting up an epic showdown between the two teams on Thursday night. 

The No. 2 seed in the playoffs would give the Celtics a first round matchup with the Miami Heat, which is less than ideal. In this series, even if Boston has a handful more of better players, the Heat have the better coach, and that’s not a knock on Joe Mazzulla, it’s just the truth.

The ideal path for the Celtics— who held the top spot in the NBA for a majority of the season— was to allow some of the powerhouses in the East to battle each other in the first round. But that’s no longer the path, as the Celtics completely covered it with dirt by losing a very winnable game to the Wizards. 

It’s worth mentioning there really isn’t too favorable of a matchup in the second round. As the No. 2 seed, the Celtics would likely face the Cavaliers or 76ers in the second round, also keeping in mind the possibility of the Knicks advancing as well. It’s going to be a battle, so don’t expect the Celtics to make a strong push in the final games of the regular season.

The second round is going to be challenging no matter how the seeding plays out. The only way it’ll work for the Celtics is if they have their full roster healthy and available. A big component to this is Rob Williams, who needs to be available in any role for the Celtics to have success in the playoffs, as Jaylen Brown said “he’s the key.” 

A challenging first round matchup, however, will set the bar for the Celtics in the sense of mentality and overall readiness moving forward in the playoffs. It’ll probably be a good thing for this team to go through.

Lastly, the Celtics just seem bored right now trying to finish the regular season. Which isn’t great, as they’re a team who plays best in rhythm and routine. They need to play with more effort closing out the regular season. 

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