Where Celtics Stand in the NBA Cup After Crucial Win Over Wizards originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics’ NBA Cup hopes are still alive after Friday night’s hard-fought victory over the Washington Wizards.
They improved to 2-1 in the group stage with their 108-96 win, increasing their points difference to +14. Point difference is a tiebreaker in the tournament, along with head-to-head matches.
Shortly after the C’s victory, the East Group C-leading Atlanta Hawks fell to 2-1 with their 136-122 loss to the Chicago Bulls. That gives Boston a chance to overtake Atlanta for the top spot if it beats Chicago and the Hawks fall to the Cleveland Cavaliers in their final group stage match next Friday.
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If Atlanta beats Cleveland, it will earn the tiebreaker for its victory over Boston in the NBA Cup opener. However, the Celtics can advance to the knockout stages even if the Hawks win the group.
In addition to the six group winners (three in the Eastern Conference, three in the Western Conference), there are two ‘wild cards’ who advance to the next round. Here are the teams in each conference with the best record in Group Play that didn’t win their pool. If more than one team has the same group play record, the points difference will be used as the highest tiebreaker.
If that’s the case, we can expect head coach Joe Mazzulla to try to run up the score in Chicago next Friday. If the Celtics finish 3-1 in Group play and the Hawks win the group, the C’s would need to have a better points differential than any other 3-1 team in the Eastern Conference that did not win its group to advance as the wild card team.
Boston takes a break from NBA Cup action, with its next two games coming against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers at TD Garden. C’s-Wolves is set for tipoff Sunday at 3:30 PM ET on NBC Sports Boston.
