How the Celtics can advance in the NBA Cup on Friday

BOSTON – The Boston Celtics can complete Group C of the NBA Cup group stage on Friday night if they beat the Bulls in Chicago. But they will also need some help earlier in the afternoon.

The Celtics have been off since Monday and are riding high with six straight wins. Jayson Tatum is playing at an MVP level, Jaylen Brown is averaging 25 points per contest and a career-best 4.4 assists, and Kristaps Porzingis scored 16 points and six rebounds in his season debut against the Clippers on Monday.

But even though the Bulls are only 8-12 this season, they have been pretty good in the NBA Cup. They are 2-1 ahead of the other two teams in Group C (Boston and Atlanta) and have the best point difference in the group with the Cavaliers (1-1).

How the Celtics can win Group C in the NBA Cup

The Celtics have several options to secure Group C and advance to the knockout rounds. The easiest way is to beat the Bulls on Friday and hope the Cavaliers beat the Hawks earlier in the day. The Cavs and Hawks kick off at 2:30 p.m. in Atlanta.

The Cavaliers are 17-2 overall this season, with the Celtics handing them their first loss a few weeks ago in the NBA Cup showdown at TD Garden. The Hawks suffered their other loss on Wednesday night when Trae Young dropped 20 points in a 135-1224 win at Cleveland and Atlanta delivered a career-best performance of 22 assists. But that margin wasn’t part of the NBA Cup, so it was just a regular old win for the Hawks.

If the Cavs beat the Hawks and the Celtics settle the game against the Bulls, then Boston (which would improve to 3-1 in group play) would be in first place in Group C and secure a spot in the knockout rounds. -Round. Those results on Friday would make the results of Tuesday night’s Cavaliers-Wizards group play final meaningless for Boston.

If the Hawks and Celtics both win on Friday, things will get a little messy.

NBA Cup tiebreakers

If both the Celtics and Hawks emerge victorious on Friday, both would be 3-1 in group play, but Atlanta would hold the tiebreaker thanks to their head-to-head win over Boston on Nov. 12. Here are the results of the tiebreakers in NBA Cup group play:

• Head-to-head record
• Point difference
• Total points in group play
• Record from last year’s regular season

If another tiebreaker was needed after all of this, the NBA would conduct a random drawing to sort everything out. Really very scientific stuff.

Thanks to their 120-117 win at TD Garden on November 19th, the Celtics have the tiebreaker against the Cavaliers in hand. But this home loss to the Hawks could hurt them again at the end of the group stage.

If the Celtics don’t win Group C, they will have to hope to clinch a Wild Card spot. These go to the second-place team in each conference with the best record in group play and the best point difference.

The Celtics enter Friday’s game with a plus-14 lead.

Can the Celtics advance with a loss to the Bulls?

If the Bulls win on Friday and the Hawks beat the Cavaliers, Chicago would win Group C thanks to their win over Atlanta in group play. If the Bulls and Cavs win on Friday, Chicago would need a Cavs loss to the Wizards on Tuesday to win the bracket.

Even if Boston loses to the Bulls on Friday, there remains a path to advance. But the Celtics would need to finish 2-2 with all five Group C teams, which would require the Cavs to beat the Hawks on Friday and the Wizards to beat the Cavs on Tuesday. Then it would come down to point differential, but the Celtics still have some work to do in that regard.

Boston is currently second in Group C point differential, behind Cleveland and Chicago, both of which are plus-15. The Celtics’ best chance is to simply win on Friday and see how the rest of the cards shake out. Friday’s defeat means their chances of making it to the knockout rounds are significantly bleaker.

NBA Cup knockout stages

Teams that advance from group play will play in the NBA Cup quarterfinals Dec. 10-11, with those games hosted by the higher seeds. The winners then travel to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals on December 14th and the NBA Cup Championship on December 17th.