The Celtics pool of potential first round opponents is officially locked in at two after the Hawks beat the 76ers on Friday night. The win locked Atlanta into the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, setting the stage for a matchup with the No. 7 seed Magic in Orlando for the right to face the Celtics in the first round. The Magic will host the Hawks on Tuesday night in the opening game of the play-in tournament. Boston will then host the winner of that game on either April 19 or April 20 for Game 1 of the first round.
The Celtics have gone 1-2 against the Magic in head-to-head matchups this season but both of those losses came without Jayson Tatum in the lineup. Wednesday’s loss in Orlando came as Boston sat out their top six players on the back end of a back-to-back.
Boston also went 1-2 against the Hawks this year including a pair of surprising home losses in the first half of the season. Atlanta has gone through a number of trades since those matchups though with the last head-to-head contest coming on Jan. 18, a 119-115 overtime loss for the Celtics in Boston.
The Magic have a 2-1 edge over the Hawks in their season series with one meaningless game still looming between the two teams on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.
The Celtics have plenty of history against the Hawks in the postseason, most recently facing Atlanta in the 2023 first round, a series Boston won in six games. The Celtics have not faced the Magic in a postseason series since the 2010 Conference Finals when Boston upset Orlando to earn a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics will get at least three full days next week to prepare for the play-in tournament winner before Game 1 of their first round series begins next weekend.
