NBA has Luka Garza to thank for insane Eastern Conference playoff picture

The Eastern Conference playoffs have been insane to begin. It’s been over every week because the playoffs started, and not one of the first-round sequence have completed. The Boston Celtics haven’t solely participated on this insanity however, one might argue, they’re accountable for it. Luka Garza’s clutch three-pointer of their common season finale win vs. the orlando magic set the course for ensuing insanity.

For anybody who needs a recap, the Celtics beat the Magic within the final recreation of the common season as a result of Garza hit the go-ahead three within the recreation’s closing seconds.

Doing so drastically altered the playoff picture within the East. Had the Celtics misplaced, the Magic would have had the No. 7 seed (nonetheless within the play-in) whereas the Atlanta Hawks would have gotten the No. 5 seed (to face Cleveland), and the Toronto Raptors would have gotten the No. 6 seed (to face New York).

There’s no telling how these sequence would have performed out, however thanks to Garza’s three, all 4 first-round sequence within the East are going to six video games minimal. The final time this occurred was 23 years in the past. Coincidentally sufficient, the Celtics have been concerned in that too.

For all we all know, the pandemonium will all finish in Game 6, besides, Garza serving to the Celtics win a recreation that may have had no have an effect on on their closing standing has had nice impact on how every part has gone this far.

This did have an effect on who the Celtics confronted within the first spherical

By beating the Magic, the Celtics gave the Philadelphia 76ers homecourt benefit of their play-in matchup between the 2 groups. The Sixers ran away with that one, organising their fourth matchup within the Joel Embiid-Jayson Tatum rivalry spanning again to 2018.

The Magic have been surprisingly resilient after their outlook seemed fairly bleak following their loss to the Celtics B-Team and getting blown out by the Sixers. Suddenly, they’re one win away from being among the many only a few No. 8 seeds to conquer the No. 1.

As for the Sixers, they haven’t been all that simple to put down. The Celtics have blown them out twice, however in one in all their wins, they simply barely scraped by, and their two losses have been at house. It’s been sort of a topsy-turvy sequence, lowlighted by a pretty frustrating Game 5 loss.

For that very same cause, one can solely marvel the place Boston can be in the event that they confronted Orlando, a workforce that by no means beat all of them common season. If the Celtics end off the Sixers both tonight or in Game 7, they’re going to gladly take it, however typically like these ought to make one marvel what might have been if the Celtics confronted the workforce they beat with their back-ups.