Celtics can clinch No. 2

Boston can settle the East’s biggest remaining question on Thursday, April 9: beat the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden and the Celtics are locked into second place in the conference. ESPN’s playoff tracker says New York can still catch Boston only if the Knicks win out and the Celtics lose out, so one Boston win ends the chase. (espn.com) The standings are tight enough that this is not a formality on paper. The National Basketball Association standings page listed Boston at 54-25 and New York at 51-28 entering Thursday, which is why this head-to-head game can close the gap for good. (nba.com, espn.com) The game itself is a real test, not a placeholder. National Basketball Association game listings had Celtics-Knicks set for 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, April 9, at Madison Square Garden, with Boston on the road against the exact team still chasing that seed. (nba.com) Second place is not just a number next to a team name. In the National Basketball Association playoff bracket, the second seed opens at home against the seventh seed, while the third seed opens against the sixth seed, so one line in the standings changes both opponent and home-court path immediately. (espn.com) The seventh seed is not even fixed yet because the play-in tournament decides it. ESPN’s bracket page showed Boston lined up with the winner of the play-in path for No. 7, while New York in third was lined up with the current No. 6 slot, which is a different road entirely. (espn.com) There is also a scheduling edge built into finishing second. The National Basketball Association rulebook gives the better seed home court in a best-of-seven series, which means Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 are in that team’s arena if the series goes long. (official.nba.com, espn.com) New York has made this race last by beating Boston twice already this season. National Basketball Association game logs show the Knicks won 105-95 on October 24, 2025, and 111-89 on February 8, 2026, while Boston’s win in the season series was 123-117 on December 2, 2025. (nba.com, nba.com, espn.com) If the teams somehow finished tied, the league does not go straight to a coin flip. The National Basketball Association’s official tiebreak procedures start with head-to-head record for a two-team tie, then move through division status and conference record if needed, which is why every late-season game against an East rival carries extra weight. (nba.com) So Thursday is one of those rare regular-season games that feels like a playoff switch being flipped in advance. A Celtics win locks Boston into the No. 2 line, ends New York’s last path to jump them, and lets the East bracket start hardening before the weekend even arrives. (espn.com, espn.com)