Celtics will host either Heat or Hawks for Game 1 on Saturday afternoon
BOSTON -- We don't know which team the Celtics will play in the first round of the NBA playoffs just yet, but we do know when Boston will begin its quest for another title.
With the regular season coming to an end Sunday, the NBA has announced the dates and times for Game 1 of each first-round series. The Celtics will host either the Miami Heat or the Atlanta Hawks for Game 1 on Saturday, April 15, at 3:30 p.m. at TD Garden.
The No. 7 seed Heat and No. 8 seed Hawks will square off in the play-in round Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Miami. The winner of that game will advance to play Boston in the first round.
Miami won three of its four regular season matchups with Atlanta, so the Heat have the upper hand heading into Tuesday's play-in clash. The Heat finished the regular season at 44-38 and won four of their last five games. The Hawks lost to the Celtics (playing mostly backups) 120-114 on the final day of the regular season, and finished with a 41-41 record.
The Celtics finished second in the Eastern Conference at 57-25, and went 3-0 against the Hawks and 2-2 against the Heat during regular season action. Atlanta would obviously be the easier foe for Boston in the first round, considering the Hawks were a mess for much of the regular season and fired head coach Nate McMillan at the All-Star break. Atlanta brought in Quin Snyder, who went 10-11 with the Hawks to close out the regular season.
Miami battled injuries and inconsistency during the regular season, but the Heat still have Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and head coach Erik Spoelstra to worry about. The Celtics and the Heat matched up in last postseason's Eastern Conference Finals, with Boston winning the series in seven games.
