With 25 games remaining, the Celtics are closer to the No. 2 seed than the ninth seed. After their overwhelming underachievement in the first half of the season, the C’s undermanned overachievement for the past 14 games has all but clinched a playoff spot.

They trail the second-seeded Pacers by six games and lead both the Raptors and 76ers in ninth place by seven. There’s a 98 percent chance they play past April 17, per John Hollinger’s playoff odds. So, where do they go from here? How far can grit and balls take them?

Other than the fact Rajon Rondo, Jared Sullinger and Leandro Barbosa are watching the rest of the season from their couches, the C’s aren’t in such a bad position. If the current standings hold true, they’d face Indiana in the first round with either the Knicks or Bulls looming in the second.

Do any of those teams really scare you? Maybe a Bulls team emboldened by Derrick Rose’s return, but No. 6 Chicago likely climbs the standings before season’s end. They have the easiest remaining schedule of any contending Eastern Conference team, and Rose will come back soon … right?

Excluding the Heat from this conversation for now, since they’re firmly entrenched in the No. 1 overall seed, the C’s have the next smoothest road over the final seven weeks. See for yourself.

HOME: GSW, ATL, TOR, CHA, MIA, NYK, ATL, DET, CLE, WAS, BRO, IND
ROAD: PHI, IND, OKC, CHA, NOH, DAL, MEM, CLE, NYK, MIN, MIA, ORL, TOR

No Eastern Conference team plays fewer road games down the stretch than the Celtics (13), only Chicago has fewer back-to-backs and just two teams (Bulls, Nets) face fewer foes currently clutching playoff spots. The C’s play 14 of their final 25 games against teams outside of the present playoff picture, and their longest road trip left lasts three games. Meanwhile …

• The Pacers play 14 of their last 25 games against playoff opponents, including a four-game road trip through Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and Los Angeles (Clippers) at the end of March.
• The third-seeded Knicks have a whopping 29 games remaining, including 16 against playoff squads, nine back-to-backs and a five-game West Coast road trip in mid-March.
• The No. 4 Hawks have 27 games left and play 10-of-14 road games vs. playoff teams. Four West Coast games remain on their current six-game trip and another four-game trip awaits.
• The fifth-seeded Nets play 15 of their final 24 games on the road, including a brutal eight-game road trip that covers roughly 9,000 miles. Oh, and nine more back-to-backs.
• The No. 8 Bucks face 27 games in 49 days, 14 on the road, 13 against playoff teams, eight back-to-backs, a three-game West Coast trip and a four-game East Coast jaunt.

So, where does that leave the Celtics? Leapfrogging five teams for the No. 2 seed is a stretch, at best. The C’s have an outside shot at a sixth straight Atlantic Division title, but Hollinger places those odds at about 10-to-1. That’s because they’d have to make up 3.5 games against the Nets and five against the Knicks, beating Brooklyn in the Garden on April 10 and splitting two games in five days with the Knicks at the end of March to play both teams to a draw for the season.

The best-case scenario for the Celtics: Somehow battling their way into the No. 3 seed, hosting a Hawks or Knicks team they’ve proven capable of beating in Round 1, and either facing the Pacers on the road or hosting another Eastern Conference semifinals in Round 2.

But at what cost? In all likelihood, an all-out blitz until April would result in a fourth or fifth seed, a tough first-round matchup against the Bulls or Nets, and the Heat waiting in the second round.

The idea is to avoid Miami for as long as possible. You never know when an upset or the same misfortune that left the Bulls without Rose last season and the Celtics without Rondo this year could strike. Heck, if Chris Bosh hadn’t returned for the final three games of their series last spring, the C’s would’ve been NBA finalists with two stars playing at elite levels (Rondo, Kevin Garnett), a healthy Brandon Bass, Ray Allen’s shaky ankles and both Paul Pierce and Mickael Pietrus on bum knees.

The best way to avoid the Heat in the first two rounds is playing for the sixth or seventh seed -- where the Celtics currently stand with a relatively easy schedule over the next two months -- rest KG and Pierce as often as possible, and get Jordan Crawford, Terrence Williams and D.J. White acclimated. The current string of one game in seven days should only help matters.

Easier said than done, obviously. For all we know, they take their foot off the gas, fall to eighth and face Miami in Round 1. Or maybe another team takes the C’s out in the first or second round before they even get a third straight shorthanded shot at the Heat, making all this a moot point.

But as we all should’ve learned by now, never bury these Celtics until someone pries a series from their cold, dead hands. And barring a collapse of Red Sox proportions, there will be playoffs.