The Celtics might be launching their bid for Banner 18 down two All-Stars, but they aren’t the only team with question marks in the fuzzy Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Brad Stevens’s team faces Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday at 1 p.m in the series opener. The Celtics enter the postseason as the No. 2 seed with Gordon Hayward, Kyrie Irving, and Daniel Theis done for the year and Marcus Smart out until late in the first round at the earliest. But they are still a Brad Stevens team.
Elsewhere in the East, Cleveland’s LeBron James will chase his eighth consecutive Finals appearance with an almost entirely different ensemble around him than the one he played with before the trade deadline, the top-seeded Toronto Raptors seek to make their breakthrough, and Joel Embiid takes the Sixers into the playoffs on a 16-game winning streak.