our playoff chances

[Kestas <Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu>]

So, the remaining schedules are thus:

Indiana, 35-40 		Boston, 35-42
(23-24 Conf)		(23-26 Conf)
			
@New Jersey		
Washington		@Philadelphia
New York		Miami
Boston			@Indiana
@Chicago		New Jersey 
Philadelphia		
@Cleveland		Charlotte

Assuming Indiana loses to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and wins against
NJ, Wash, Chi, and Cle, they would have a 39-43 record. The Celtics have to
win 4 out of five (with the most likely loss at Philly) to have the same
record. The head-to-head would be 2-2, and the conference record would be
27-27 for both in this case. Although the chances are it won't come to
this, if this  were to come true, what is the next tie-breaker and who'd
win it? Is it division record? Road record? 
If it's division, Indiana would own it (15-13 to 12-12), if it's road,
Boston would (17-24 to 15-26). If Indy loses to Chicago or Cleveland, and
Boston loses to Charlotte, their divisional records are even (14-14 to
12-12). So, if we lose 2 out of 5, the "best" loss would be to Charlotte,
and then we hope that Indy loses within division. Obviously, if we lose to
Indiana, then we need to win one more game than they do down the stretch -
pretty hard to do, given the schedules and the fact that Indy has 2 more
games.  
Just trying to make the last stretch interesting... 
Kestas