How can Celtics advance in NBA Cup? Updated standings and scenarios originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics’ quest for the NBA Cup is back on track. But they’ll need some help.
The Celtics handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their first loss of the 2024-25 season Tuesday night with a rousing 120-117 win at TD Garden. The victory also helped the C’s stay alive in the NBA Cup after they fell to the Atlanta Hawks in their first game of group play.
Boston is in Group C of the league’s second annual in-season tournament along with the Cavs, Hawks, Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls. Each team plays each other once in the Group Stage, and the team with the best record in the group advances to the Knockout Rounds. If two or more teams have the same record, the top two tiebreakers are head-to-head record and point differential.
The Celtics now sit at 1-1 with a +2 point differential after their one-point loss to the Hawks and three-point win over the Cavs. That’s good for second place in Group C behind Atlanta, which is 2-0 in group play after beating the Celtics and Wizards.
Here’s a look at the updated NBA Cup Group C standings through Tuesday, Nov. 19.
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The Celtics have a worse point differential than the Cavs but are ahead in the group standings after beating Cleveland head-to-head Tuesday night.
So, how can Boston emerge from Group C and advance to the knockout rounds? For starters, the Celtics need to win their final two group stage games. Here’s a look at their remaining NBA Cup schedule, followed by scenarios for the Celtics to move on to the quarterfinals.
Celtics’ Group C schedule
The Celtics have two Group Stage games remaining in the NBA Cup: this Friday against the Washington Wizards and next Friday against the Chicago Bulls. (Both games will be on NBC Sports Boston.)
How can the Celtics advance out of Group C?
To win the group, Boston needs to beat the Wizards and Bulls and have Atlanta lose both of its last two Group C games (against the Cavs and Bulls). If the Hawks split those two games, they’d still have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Celtics after beating them last Tuesday.
If the Celtics don’t win Group C, they can still advance to the knockout rounds as a wild card team. In addition to the six group winners (three in the Eastern Conference, three in the Western Conference), two “wild cards” are determined by the team in each conference with the best record in Group Play that didn’t win its group.
In the (likely) event that more than one team has the same Group Play record, the same tiebreaker format is followed, but with point differential (not head-to-head play) as the top tiebreaker.
So for example, if the Celtics finish 3-1 in group play and the Hawks win Group C, the C’s would need to have a better point differential than every other 3-1 team in the East that didn’t win its group to advance as the wild card team.
The Cavs currently have a 15-point edge over Boston in point differential, so in this scenario, the Celtics would need to rout both the Wizards and the Bulls (or hope Cleveland loses again) to secure the wild card spot.
The easiest path for Boston advancing is a pair of Atlanta losses, so C’s fans should be rooting against the Hawks this Friday and next Friday in their final two games of group play.
The Celtics’ next game is another NBA Cup matchup against Washington at 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.
