With just five games left, the Celtics are neck and neck . . . and neck . . . with the Hawks and Magic for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Seriously, they're all 36-25, although the Celtics hold the tiebreaker over both teams.
But it gets better.
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After Tuesday's game against the Knicks, the Celtics will play not only the Magic (Wednesday at home), but the Hawks (Friday in Atlanta) too.
Needless to say, those games are pretty darn big for a Celtics team trying to lock up home-court advantage through the first round of the postseason, with that first series most likely being against the Magic or Hawks.
A. Sherrod Blakely will preview those games in full later this week, but it just goes to show that if home-court really is important to the Celtics -- and it should be -- they won't have the luxury of benching guys just for the sake of it down the stretch.
The Celtics are 21-9 at home this year, and just 15-16 on the road.
The Magic are 20-12 at home and 16-13 on the road, while the Hawks are 19-9 at home and 17-16 on the road.