The Boston Celtics have officially clinched a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. Jeff Green has been able to shoulder the load offensively for the Celtics while superstar Kevin Garnett has been out with an ankle injury.

Back on March 20, Garnett went down with an ankle injury in the loss to the New Orleans Hornets. Although Garnett was expected to miss two weeks and possibly miss the remaining game for the Celtics leading up to the NBA playoffs, the forward could make it back on the floor by Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The smart move by the Celtics’ coaching staff would’ve been to shutdown Garnett for the rest of the regular season in order to have him healthy for the playoffs. At 36-years old, Garnett is no longer the young player he once was and could benefit from the extra time to rest and heal up.

Although that may be the case in terms of preparing for the playoffs, Garnett and the team may be considering keeping the veteran forward in shape before thrusting him back into the lineup.

With Green playing extremely well alongside Paul Pierce in Garnett’s absence, the young forward is giving Celtics fans a preview of things to come in the post Garnett era in Boston.

As of right now, Boston is currently sitting in the seventh spot in the East with only the Milwaukee Bucks below them in the standings. Although the Bucks may still be able to leap the Celtics for the seventh seed, that scenario seems unlikely with Milwaukee two and half games back with only a few games left before the end of the regular season.

If the Celtics maintain the seventh seed, the New York Knicks will face Boston in the first round.

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