Barring a full-blown Cleveland Cavaliers implosion over the final 10 days of the regular season, the Celtics will enter the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. That’s been the most likely outcome for close to a month now. Who will their first-round opponent be? That’s still to be determined. Under the current NBA playoff format, first implemented in the 2020-21 season, the No. 2 seed in each conference faces the winner of the No. 7 vs. 8 play-in game. (The loser of that game plays the winner of 9 vs. 10, with that winner advancing to face the top seed.) So, the Celtics’ opening-round foe will be either the seventh- or eighth-ranked team in the East. Four clubs currently are vying for those two spots. Here’s a closer look at each (all stats and standings as of Friday): 7. Orlando Magic Record: 38-40 Record vs. Celtics: 1-1 (one game remaining) Net rating: 18th Last playoff meeting: 2010 East finals (Celtics in six) The Magic want to win rock fights. They own the NBA’s second-best defensive rating, trailing only Oklahoma City, and have held opponents below 100 points 20 times this season. Their offense, though, is downright dreadful — fourth-worst in rating, ahead of only lottery-bound Brooklyn, Charlotte and Washington. They rank 29th in effective field-goal percentage and 28th in true shooting percentage, and no team has been worse at shooting the three ball. Orlando is dead last in both 3-point shooting percentage (31.4%) and made threes per game (11.1). How the Celtics fare at creating quality looks from deep could determine how long this potential series lasts, as Orlando allows the fewest 3-point makes and attempts per game but the sixth-highest opponent 3-point percentage. In their first game against the Magic, the Celtics went 8-for-33 (with Jayson Tatum a late scratch due to illness) and lost by four. In the rematch, they went 17-for-37 and won by 27. Magic star Paolo Banchero missed the teams’ first meeting in December, and the Celtics have yet to see his running mate, Franz Wagner. Both players missed extended time with oblique tears but have started every game since late January. Expect to see both when Boston visits Orlando next Wednesday on the second night of a back-to-back. 8. Atlanta Hawks Record: 36-40 Record vs. Celtics: 2-1 Net rating: 19th Last playoff meeting: 2023 first round (Celtics in six) The only team to beat the Celtics twice on their home floor this season? That would be Trae Young and the Hawks, who locked down a one-point victory at TD Garden during NBA Cup play and an overtime win there in mid-January. In the first, Boston was sloppy with the ball and soft on the glass, coughing up 20 turnovers while allowing 19 offensive rebounds (both season highs). The second featured one of several late-game meltdowns that plagued the Celtics during their January swoon, with Jrue Holiday committing a late-game turnover and foul that helped Atlanta force OT. Boston also shot 38.5% from the field in the latter and played both games without Kristaps Porzingis. Overall, though, Atlanta’s resume is unimpressive. The Hawks play fast (second in pace) and score a lot (fifth in points per game) but are below average in most other metrics, including offensive and defensive rating (19th and 18th) and a turnover rate that ranks in the bottom five (26th). Defensively, they create the second-most steals per game — thanks largely to emerging defensive star Dyson Daniels, who leads the NBA in that category by a massive margin — but allow the second-highest opponent shooting percentage and third-highest opponent 3-point percentage. 9. Miami Heat Record: 35-42 Record vs. Celtics: 1-3 Net rating: 16th Last playoff meeting: 2024 first round (Celtics in five) Miami’s blowout win Wednesday on Causeway Street snapped a six-game regular-season losing streak against the Celtics, who also booted the Heat out of last year’s playoffs with a first-round gentleman’s sweep. The Heat failed to score more than 91 points in each of the teams’ first three matchups this season, and after trading away disgruntled superstar Jimmy Butler in early February, they spent the next six weeks in free fall, losing 17 of 21 after the trade. Erik Spoelstra’s club has shown signs of life lately, however, ripping off a six-game win streak that ended Thursday with a last-second loss to Memphis. That run included the 124-103 victory in Boston and a comfortable win over Butler’s Golden State Warriors, who have been one of the NBA’s hottest teams since mid-February. The Heat have some ground to make up, though, if they want to book what would be their fifth playoff matchup with the Celtics in the last six seasons. They entered Friday 1 1/2 games behind the Hawks with five games remaining. Teams finishing ninth or 10th cannot face the No. 2 seed. 10. Chicago Bulls Record: 34-42 Record vs. Celtics: 1-3 Net rating: 21st Last playoff meeting: 2017 first round (Celtics in six) That Chicago is even a play-in team is remarkable after it shipped out leading scorer Zach LaVine at the NBA trade deadline. The Bulls entered Friday with a 10-4 record in their last 14 games, including a three-game stretch in which they pummeled the Los Angeles Lakers 146-115, won in Denver, then beat the Lakers again. Point guard Coby White was the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for March, and forward Matas Buzelis has been one of the league’s top-performing rookies in the back half of the season. The Bulls beat a nearly full-strength Celtics squad in Boston on Dec. 19 but lost the other three meetings by an average of 18.7 points, allowing more than 122 points in all three. This is another unlikely first-round matchup, as Chicago would need to close a two-game gap behind Atlanta and leapfrog Miami.