WALTHAM, Mass. -- Boston Celtics forward Marcus Morris said there is only one of three possible first-round playoff opponents he would prefer to avoid: his brother, Markieff, and the Washington Wizards.
After sounding off about the "disrespect" the injury-ravaged Celtics feel when they hear pundits suggest teams should be clamoring to match up with them in the opening round, Morris admitted he would rather see the Milwaukee Bucks or Miami Heat because of his family ties to the Wizards.
"Man, every day we talk about it. Honestly, I don't want to play them first. Can't lie," Morris said after Boston's off-day workout Saturday. "I don't want to play them first because it's my brother and we're going to war. When I go out there -- I've been telling [my teammates] this is war time. It's like fighting for your life out here, and I'd hate to see my brother in the first round, to have to be that bully to my brother when I know it's gonna be like."
The Celtics are locked into the No. 2 seed in the East, and entering Saturday's action, the Wizards were their most likely first-round opponent, according to ESPN's Basketball Power Index.
According to BPI, the Celtics have a 43.1 percent chance of playing Washington, a 34.9 percent chance of meeting the Bucks and a 22 percent chance of seeing the Heat.
Morris said he has told his brother to make sure the Wizards don't land at the No. 7 seed.
"I'm like, 'Kieff, c'mon, man. Like s---. Get to the six or the eight [seed]. I ain't trying to play y'all in the first round,'" said Morris. "He's like, 'I know. I know.' ... Because it said they was like 40 percent to play in the seventh [seed], but then they lost, so I was like, should I be happy that they lost?
"[The Wizards] can go to the eighth because I watch them. That's my brother, so I watch them and I know that they can beat Toronto. I think that would be a good matchup for them. Us, too, would be a good matchup, don't get me wrong. But I think them against Toronto would be a good matchup too."
The Morris twins entered the league together in 2011 after playing at Kansas together; Markieff was drafted 13th overall by the Phoenix Suns and Marcus 14th by the Houston Rockets. They played together in Phoenix from 2013 to 2015, after Markieff was traded to the team.
They remain close despite being on rival teams in the East. The two could be seen chatting throughout games between the Celtics and Wizards this season.
With all of Boston's injuries, Marcus Morris has been elevated to a bigger role for the Celtics recently. And he doesn't like all the chatter that Boston is vulnerable after Kyrie Irving was ruled out for the playoffs while undergoing a second knee surgery Saturday.
"This team, we're resilient. Everybody on this team is ready to compete. We all feel disrespected," said Morris. "Kyrie Irving, Marcus [Smart], [Daniel] Theis, all those [injured] guys are major for our team, but they're not here, so we still have to approach the game as if we're gonna win and get as far as we can.
"We have great coaches that have been really good with us and really resilient with us. We're ready to go, man. There's enough talking. I don't see no players saying it. There's a lot of commentators saying it, but they not playing. They watching. So we'll see when we get [in between] the lines."
Morris also sounded off about being ejected from two games in a seven-day span after being hit with a pair of technicals in last Saturday's win over the Raptors and again during Friday's triumph over the Chicago Bulls.
He has playfully tweeted at the league apologizing for his actions, but he insists he has been treated unfairly recently.
"I kind of feel like I'm getting that Rasheed Wallace treatment, just, quick trigger, quick trigger," said Morris.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he is not worried about Morris' ejections. And Morris has pledged to not let his temper get the best of him in the playoffs.
"Going in the playoffs, that's nothing to worry about. I promise I won't get no techs unless we're just getting blatantly cheated," said Morris. "I want my team to win, so I won't put my team in jeopardy or anything like that. But I'm still passionate about the game, like I said."