The 2018-19 regular season doesn’t end until Wednesday, but we already know one of the upcoming series in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Boston Celtics will be the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference; they will host the No. 5 Indiana Pacers either Saturday or Sunday, time and station to be announced.
The Celtics won their season series with Indiana 3-1 SU and 2-2 ATS, after beating the Pacers 117-97 last Friday as 1.5-point road favorites. Then they clinched the No. 4 seed on Sunday when Indiana lost 108-96 to the Brooklyn Nets (+3 away). As a result, the first two games of this first-round series will be played at the Garden, as well as Games 5 and 7 if necessary.
It wasn’t all good news for Boston on Sunday. They fell 116-108 to the Orlando Magic (+4.5 away), dropping the Celtics to 5-2 SU and 3-4 ATS over their past seven games. They also lost defensive stopper Marcus Smart to a bruised left hip and strained oblique, as well as No. 2 scorer Jayson Tatum to a left shin contusion. Their status for Game 1 is up in the air at press time.
