BOSTON — The Boston Celtics are the first team in the NBA to clinch a playoff spot this season, as their 127-112 win over the Phoenix Suns pushed them to 52-14. With the Philadelphia 76ers losing to the Milwaukee Bucks 114-105, the Celtics have a 16-game lead over the sixth seed and are officially a lock to make the postseason.
The Celtics have held a comfortable lead atop the standings for months, tied with the 2015-16 Spurs for the fourth-best net rating in NBA history at 11.3. They’re on pace for the franchise’s first 60-win season since they went 62-20 in 2008-09. They have improved to 30-3 at home and won 15 of their last 17 games.
Jaylen Brown went on a tear for 37 points on 14-for-23 shooting in Thursday’s win, while Al Horford tied a career-high with six 3-pointers starting in place of the injured Kristaps Porziņģis. The team tied a season-high with 25 3-pointers, two short of the franchise record.
As Porziņģis continues to nurse a hamstring strain, the Celtics only have six games left against teams above the Play-In Tournament in the standings. This is Boston’s second win over the Suns in the past week and their fourth win in a row after a brief losing streak against fellow contenders Cleveland and Denver. While the Celtics have performed on their own plane all season, the Nuggets are the one team that has beaten them consistently.
Can Boston win the East’s top seed?
With a 9.5-game lead entering Thursday, the Celtics are headed for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Their playoff draw could be dangerous with the 76ers and Miami Heat among a group of talented teams in the mix for the Play-In Tournament. Should Joel Embiid return healthy from a knee injury or Miami transform into its usual late-season form, Boston could have an extremely dangerous first-round draw. With other threats like the Bucks, Cavaliers and New York Knicks lurking, the Celtics won’t have an easy Eastern Conference path.
They have played like a heavy favorite in the conference, though. As of Thursday evening, Basketball-Reference.com’s playoff probability tool gave them a 75.8-percent chance of reaching the NBA Finals and a 59.3-percent chance of winning the franchise’s first championship since 2008. Those odds, based on 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season, might be too optimistic in Boston’s favor but reflect just how statistically dominant the Celtics have been so far. They entered Thursday with an 11.3 net rating, which was nearly seven points per 100 possessions better than that of the second-best team in the East (Cleveland). — Jay King, Celtics beat writer
Required reading
(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
This article was originally published by a theathletic.com . Read the Original article here. .