What’s at stake for Celtics entering NBA Cup group finale vs. Bulls originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics’ game against the Chicago Bulls on Friday isn’t just any late-November road matchup against a sub-.500 team.
Celtics at Bulls (8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston) marks Boston’s final game in the group stage of the 2024 NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament. And there’s plenty at stake for the Celtics, who need a win (and some help) to secure first place in Group C and advance to the quarterfinals.
We’ll explain every scenario below, but first, here’s a look at the Group C standings.
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The Bulls, Hawks and Celtics all have 2-1 records in group play. If multiple teams in one group have the same record, the tiebreakers are (in order) head-to-head record and point differential.
Since the Bulls beat the Hawks and have a better point differential (+15) than the Celtics (+14), they currently lead Group C. Boston is behind Atlanta because the Hawks beat the Celtics in their group play opener.
The C’s still can win the group, but it will hinge on the result of Hawks vs. Cavs at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. Here are the scenarios:
If the Cavs beat the Hawks…
Boston would just need a win over Chicago (by any margin) to win Group C and advance.
The Celtics own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cavs after beating them in group play last Tuesday, so even if Cleveland finishes 3-1 in group play (its final group game is next Tuesday vs. Washington), the C’s would be the No. 1 seed in Group C and clinch a home game in the quarterfinal round.
If the Hawks beat the Cavs…
This is where it gets complicated. If Boston beats Chicago and Atlanta beats Cleveland, the Hawks would win Group C based on head-to-head tiebreakers over the Celtics and Cavs (assuming the Cavs beat the Wizards to finish 3-1 in the group).
In addition to the group winners, one “wild card” team from each conference advances to the quarterfinals. The top tiebreaker for wild cards is point differential, so the Celtics would need to have a better point differential than every Eastern Conference team that also went 3-1 but didn’t win its group.
Since there are more group play games next Tuesday, the C’s wouldn’t know the exact point differential needed to win the wild card in this scenario. So, they’d simply have to run the score up on Chicago as much as possible Friday night and hope for the best from Tuesday’s results.
To recap: The clearest path for Boston advancing is a Cavs win over the Hawks and a Celtics win over the Bulls. That would guarantee the C’s a quarterfinal game that will be held either Tuesday, Dec. 10 or Wednesday, Dec. 11. Since Hawks-Cavs is at 2:30 p.m. ET, the C’s will enter Friday night’s game against the Bulls knowing whether they need just a win — or a blowout.
NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics-Bulls coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET with Celtics Pregame Live.
