The Boston Celtics all but secured their spot in the playoffs by beating the team they’re most likely to see in the first round with a 117-78 blowout win over the Cleveland Cavaliers last night.

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Cleveland rested LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith, but Boston, who have been in a fight for one of the final postseason spots in the Eastern Conference, didn’t relent.

After being behind 22-21 at the end of the first quarter, the Celtics turned up the intensity and obliterated the overmatched Cavaliers, outscoring them 96-56 the rest of the way.

Boston were smothering on defence and swiped 20 steals – just one shy of the franchise record. On the other end, seven Celtics scored in double figures as they shot 54.8 per cent from the field and 41.7 on 3-pointers.

Sixth man Isaiah Thomas was the high-scorer with 17 points and six assists off the bench, while playmaker Evan Turner filled up the stat sheet with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Boston entered the game with a hold on the seventh seed in the East and the victory, combined with the Brooklyn Nets’ loss, almost assures the Celtics a meeting with Cleveland in the opening series of the playoffs.

The win was also Boston’s second straight against the Cavaliers, who they defeated on Friday in a contest which James and Love played three quarters of, and which Irving sat out.

Elsewhere, Brooklyn were involved in their own blowout, but were on the wrong end of the 96-73 result against Milwaukee.

The Bucks used a second-half surge to pull away, outscoring the Nets 53-32 after the intermission to officially secure the sixth seed in the East.

The Bucks will return to the playoffs after suffering an NBA-worst 67 losses last year.

Brooklyn, meanwhile, still have to fend off the Indiana Pacers to reach the postseason.

Milwaukee’s defence gave the Nets all sorts of trouble as Brooklyn committed 21 turnovers and shot just 32.5 per cent, including 16.7 per cent from beyond the arc.

Forward Ersan Ilyasova led the way for the Bucks, notching a game-high 21 points to go with five rebounds. The Nets have two games left against Chicago and Orlando to extend their season.