TD Garden to open with full capacity May 29; will Celtics survive long enough for it to matter?

The State of Massachusetts will lift the capacity limits of all sporting venues in the state as of May 29 — including the Boston Celtics home court of TD Garden — per multiple sources, but it will all be for naught unless the team makes it out of the NBA’s new play-in tournament it is slated to begin play in this evening.

The Celtics must either beat the eighth-seeded Washington Wizards for the right to play in the first round from the seven seed to face the Brooklyn Nets, or they must beat the winner of the Nos. 9 and 10 seed play-in game between the Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers later this week should they lose to the Wizards this evening to secure the honor of facing the Philadelphia 76ers, the East’s top team this season.

If they lose, they won’t play in front of a capacity crowd until next season.

If they win, they will not play at home until Game 3 of whichever opponent they end up with, given they would not have home court advantage as a seven seed in either case.

The state had previously increased capacity last week from 12 to 25% without incident.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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