The Boston Celtics fell another game back of the No. 1 seed on Monday with their third straight defeat, this time to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics now trail the top-seeded Bucks by three in the loss column with one head-to-head-matchup remaining.
With the playoff and play-in races heating up, below is a comprehensive snapshot of where things stand in the Eastern Conference entering play on Tuesday, March 7. This post will update daily throughout the remainder of the regular season, or until all seeds are clinched.
Reminder on how the play-in tournament works: No. 7 plays No. 8 and No. 9 plays No. 10. The winner of the 7-8 game gets the No. 7 seed, while the loser plays the winner of the 9-10 game for the No. 8 seed.
READ: Western Conference playoff picture
NOTE: Our SportsLine model, developed by predictive data engineer Stephen Oh, simulates the entire season 10,000 times to produce the most unbiased and precise projections imaginable.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
The Bucks now hold a three-game lead over the Celtics in the loss column. They play one more time on March 30 with the season series tied 1-1. The Bucks lead No. 3 Philly by four in the loss column, which feels pretty safe with 18 to play.
Projected seed: 1Current first-round matchup: TBDTiebreaker vs. Boston: Tied 1-1 with one to playTiebreaker vs. Philadelphia: Sixers lead 2-1 with one to play
2. Boston Celtics (45-21)
The Celtics have lost three straight, blowing a double-digit lead in each. Boston now trails No. 1 Milwaukee by three in the loss column and holds just a one-loss lead over No. 3 Philadelphia, though that lead is effectively two games with Boston having cliched the tiebreaker over Philly. The Celtics should be safe to end up no worse than third, as they lead the No. 4 Cavaliers by five in the loss column.
Projected seed: 2Current first-round matchup: Winner of Heat/Hawks play-inTiebreaker vs. Milwaukee: Tied 1-1 with one to playTiebreaker vs. Philadelphia: Boston clinchedTiebreaker vs. Cleveland: Cavs clinched
The Sixers trail…
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