Celtics – Heat on Wednesday at TD Garden may be NBA playoff preview

The Celtics have shown the ability to win on the road and then some in 2015-16. They went 20-21 away from TD Garden this season and did what no team was able to do in over a calendar year by beating the Warriors in Oakland.

But as impressive as that one night was against the league’s best, the Celtics’ most impressive feat this season might have been that sustained success they enjoyed during their 14-game winning streak at TD Garden. From mid-January to mid-March, the Celtics had basically turned the Garden into Oracle East.

The Celtics will likely be starting the 2015-16 NBA Playoffs on the road, unless they get some help and beat the Heat in their regular season finale Wednesday at the Garden (8 p.m., CSNNE).

“Somebody just put on my desk all the [playoff] scenarios and I said, ‘Would you mind throwing that away?’” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told ESPN. “Like it’s a headache to even try to figure it out. We’ll see how we play [against Miami].”

The odds are that the Celtics will meet Miami in the first round of the playoffs, so it’ll be interesting to see how Stevens and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra play things Wednesday night. Don’t expect too many state secrets with the playoffs just 72 hours away.

Lovable losers

Another game that Celtics fans should have their eye on Wednesday is the Raptors – Nets game in Brooklyn. The Nets have entirely mailed it in as they’ve lost nine games in a row. That’s music to the ears of the Celtics, who own the Nets’ first round pick this summer. Brooklyn is now 21-60 on the season, which gives it the third-worst mark in the league this season. Phoenix has 22 wins, currently the fourth worst record, and plays the Clippers on Wednesday night.

For months it looked like the C’s were resigned to the fourth best lottery odds, but the Nets’ pathetic play has given Boston fans plenty to cheer about. If the Nets still have the third-worst record at the season’s conclusion the Celtics will have a 15.6 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick and a 46.9 percent chance of a top three pick.