NBA’s Walt Disney World Schedule Works In Celtics’ Favor Ahead Of Playoffs

The NBA on Friday night announced its “seeding-game” schedule for the 22 teams participating in the league’s restart at Walt Disney World Resort. The games will be broadcasted on ESPN, ABC, TNT and regional networks.

The Boston Celtics remaining regular-season games begin on July 31 vs. the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks. While that’s a difficult opponent to open against, the rest of the Celtics’ schedule leans in their favor. Just three out of their eight opponents have records above .500. Here’s the full schedule below:

July 31 vs. Milwaukee Bucks (6:30 p.m. ET)

Aug. 2 vs. Portland Trail Blazers (3:30 p.m. ET)

Aug. 4 vs. Miami Heat (6:30 p.m. ET)

Aug. 5 vs. Brooklyn Nets (9:00 p.m. ET)

Aug. 7 vs. Toronto Raptors (9:00 p.m. ET)

Aug. 9 vs. Orlando Magic (5:00 p.m. ET)

Aug. 11 vs. Memphis Grizzlies (6:30 p.m. ET)

Aug 13 vs. Washington Wizards (TBD)

Three of Boston’s games will be held at HP Field House, while the other four will take place at “The Arena,” which normally is used for national cheerleading and dance competitions. Start time and location details for the Celtics’ final game against the Wizards will be announced at a later date. Six of Boston’s eight games are scheduled to be on national television, the most of any Eastern Conference team. Their matchups with the Magic and Wizards are scheduled to be aired on NBC Sports Boston.

After opening their schedule against the top-seeded Bucks, the Celtics play just two more teams with records above .500 in the Heat and Raptors. Boston currently sits three games behind Toronto for the Eastern Conference’s third seed and three games in front of Miami. While they try to make up ground, the Raptors will be going through one of the league’s toughest remaining schedules.

Toronto is set to face the Los Angles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Bucks, Heat, Grizzlies and Magic. If the Celtics were looking to make a push for the third seed, they certainly have the opportunity to do so. Boston defeating the Raptors on August 7 would allow them to own the tiebreaker between the two teams, if it were to come down to that scenario. With this in mind alone, the Celtics should be in love with Friday’s schedule release.

Boston has just one back-to-back during its final eight games, which is another plus in what looks to be a jam-packed schedule. The Celtics will have a solid opportunity to enter the playoffs on a winning streak, as their final three games are against the Wizards, Magic and Grizzles.

Boston is 11-5 this season against their eight opponents, with the only losing record being against the Brooklyn Nets (1-2). The other losses came against the Bucks, Raptors and Wizards.

The Celtics will take chartered flights down to the Orlando area between July 7 and 9 before beginning team activities at Walt Disney World, according to a league memo obtained by The Athletic.