Celtics have their sights set on Pacers in opening round

The regular season ends on Tuesday night with a meaningless game against the Washington Wizards, then the Celtics will begin preparing to play Indiana in Game 1 of the playoffs this weekend.

BOSTON – They will go through the formality of closing the book on the 2018-19 regular season on Tuesday night.

Then, the Celtics will have three or four days of non-stop preparation for their opening-round playoff series, a matchup with the Indiana Pacers.

A Sunday night loss to the Orlando Magic officially ended the Celtics' chances of moving up to the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference, so they will be seeded fourth and host the opening two games against the fifth-seeded Pacers.

The two teams have been on a collision course for several weeks, and it was just a matter of which one had the better record for home-court advantage.

Now it is known that the Celtics will play Games 1 and 2 at the TD Garden with the opener most likely on Sunday with the schedule expected to be revealed on Thursday morning.

“It’s going to be an extremely tough series,’’ said coach Brad Stevens. “It’s going to be an extremely physical series.

“It’s really hard, but everything in the playoffs is really hard, always has been and my hope is that we can be fully healthy and go to work and be ready for them.’’

First, the Celtics have to play their 82nd and final game on Tuesday in Washington against the lottery-bound Wizards (7:05 p.m., TV: NBC Sports Boston and TNT; radio: WBZ-98.5 FM).

There is a good chance R.J. Hunter and P.J. Dozier from the Maine Red Claws will be getting a lot of minutes along with Brad Wanamaker, Robert Williams, Semi Ojeleye and Guerschon Yabusele.

This will be a time for the main rotation players to sit and watch while two others, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum, recover from injuries that occurred in the regular-season home finale against the Magic. Aron Baynes, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Kyrie Irving, Marcus Morris, Smart and Tatum are all listed as out against the Wizards while Daniel Theis is questionable.

Smart has an oblique muscle bruise and Tatum has a shin contusion, and their status has not been updated. The team is expected to begin practicing for the Pacers series either Wednesday or Thursday.

The Celtics won three out of four games against the Pacers, including two in a recent eight-day span by two at home and 20 points on the road.

"It’s good that we got a chance to kind of see what they’re about, kind of get ourselves ready a little bit with what they like to do,’’ said Hayward. “I know they’re going to be different, though, than the last two times we played them. They’re definitely going to play better than last time. It’ll be a tough series, so we’ve got to be ready.’’

The Pacers have dropped nine of their past 12 games, allowing the Celtics to pass them in the standings.

“They’re a tough opponent,’’ said Hayward, a native of Indiana. “They play really well at home. They move the ball, (are) physical on defense. They cause turnovers, so we are going to have to take care of the basketball and make sure we get good shots. It’ll be a good series. I’m excited for it.’’

The Celtics had won five of six games before losing to the Magic when they couldn’t hold a 13-point first-half lead, then rallied from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit only to fall short.

It has been an up-and-down season, one that has been disappointing for the Celtics. The preseason favorites to win the Eastern Conference, the Celtics (48-33) are going to fall short of the 50-win mark.

“Focus and that sense of urgency that for whatever reason we haven’t had as a group all year,’’ said Horford when asked what keyed the Celtics’ recent surge. “I think we all understand how we need to play and we know that in order to have any chance against Indiana we have to be at our best.’’

Irving will be taking part in his first postseason game since the 2017 NBA Finals when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers going against the Golden State Warriors. Irving sat out the playoffs a year ago with a knee ailment and is looking forward to playing again at the most important time of the season.

“Just play our game, be physical, do the little things out there, use our IQ on both ends of the floor and just play together,’’ said Irving of the keys to success. “Obviously there are going to be some runs out there in the playoffs, high-level basketball. Guys are going to be making some incredible shots. You just want to limit them to their tendencies and just play well.

“Every shot’s not going to go in but you’ve just got to be able to be resilient and just have some fun out there. Don’t let the pressure of the moment get the best of you. Just go out there and hoop.

“Just be great. It’s easy to do that when you put in the work, prepare as much as you do, take care of your body. Just go out there and play. I’m just happy that we get to prepare for a team for multiple days. That always makes it a lot better.’’

Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.