The Boston Celtics clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference with a 57-25 regular season record, thus earning themselves a first-round bye in the NBA playoffs. The No. 7 seed Miami Heat and No. 8 seed Atlanta Hawks will face off in the Play-In round, with the winner advancing to play the Celtics on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series. The Celtics went 2-2 against the Heat during the regular season, and 3-0 against the Hawks, including a 120-114 win in their season finale.

The 2023 NBA Play-In tournament is in its fourth year, with this year's tournament involving the four Eastern Conference teams and four Western Conference teams that did not clinch direct playoff spots. The Play-In tournament will have six games in total, with the teams that finish seventh and eighth in each conference pitted against each other for the seventh seed. The winners of the No. 7 versus No. 8 matchup will take up the seventh seed in the respective conference, while the losers will have one more chance to secure the eighth seed through the No. 9 versus No. 10 matchup. The Play-In tournament may have only been experimental at first, but its positive receptions have resulted in a fixed format that has kept more teams engaged throughout the regular season.