The Boston Celtics (49-19) sit firmly at second place in the Eastern Conference ahead of their home date with the Brooklyn Nets (23-45) on Tuesday night. They’re 7.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (56-11) but are 5.5 ahead of the New York Knicks (43-23).

The Celtics have already clinched their 11th straight playoff berth and would face the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-Miami Heat Play-In series in the first round if the season ended now. If they advanced after that, they’d play the winner of the Knicks-Detroit Pistons series.

Still, Boston has 14 regular-season games left before it can think about that.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla sounded off about the standings on Tuesday, via ClutchPoints’ Daniel Donabedian.

“I don’t think anything is locked up, we gotta win. That’s the most important thing is to win. I think the season’s presented numerous opportunities for us to work different lineups,” the 2024 NBA champion said. “I’d say we’re a little bit more prepared from an identity standpoint than we were in the past because we’ve had so many different lineups and different combinations that we’ve been able to play.”

“Now it’s just continuing to execute the things that we need to,” he continued. “Each game’s a different challenge.”

Joe Mazzulla was asked about what the Celtics can get out of the final stretch of the season with the top-3 seeds pretty spaced out:

“I don’t think anything is locked up, we gotta win…Just gotta continue to get better.” pic.twitter.com/4kzzo1tcv9

— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) March 18, 2025

The Celtics will be without Jayson Tatum (knee) and Jaylen Brown (back) against the Nets, clearing the way for Payton Pritchard and Derrick White to take bigger roles offensively. Brooklyn will be down Cam Thomas (hamstring), who’s out for the season.

Boston is 7-3 over its last 10 games and 23-12 at home this season.