The Celtics NBA Cup chances are very much alive but they will need some help on Tuesday night to advance into the knockout round after Friday’s win over the Bulls. Boston finished with a 3-1 record in Group C pool play after their 138-129 victory over Chicago to tie for first place with the Hawks in Group C. However, the Hawks won the head-to-head matchup with Boston so they win the tiebreaker to advance to the knockout round as Group C winners.
However, the door remains open for the Celtics to advance to the knockout round as an Eastern Conference wildcard. Boston’s odds of advancing will come down to point differential just as it did last season when the team advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament as a wildcard.
This time around, the Celtics will not be in action on the final night of NBA Cup pool play so their fate will be dependent on the results of two separate games. Here are the scenarios to watch for and how the Celtics can advance to the next round.
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Celtics will advance as wildcard to the NBA Cup knockout round via either of these two scenarios:
- Magic beat Knicks and Bucks beat Pistons by at least five points.
- Magic beat Knicks and Pistons beat Bucks by at last six points.
Here is a look at the current teams still in play for a wildcard spot along with their point differentials:
Magic 3-0 +60
Bucks 3-0 +29
Pistons 3-0 +28
Knicks 3-0 +15
Celtics 3-1 +23
Remaining NBA Cup games of note on Tuesday: Magic at Knicks, Bucks at Pistons, (Celtics are done with pool play)
Analysis: The math is somewhat easy for the Magic-Knicks game on Tuesday night when it comes to the Celtics. The 3-0 Magic have a huge edge (+60) in point differential over other East teams in the NBA Cup so a loss to New York would still give them a tiebreaker edge over Boston and any other 3-1 teams. Outside of a gigantic blowout by the Knicks (37+ points) over the Magic, the Celtics need the Magic to beat the Knicks at MSG to have any chance of advancing.
The other interesting scenario is with the Bucks-Pistons tilt. Both teams have a similar point differential to Boston so a tight win by either squad in their head-to-head matchup Tuesday would not help the Celtics. Instead, the Celtics need one of those teams to win at least five (Bucks) or six (Pistons) points along with the Magic victory in order to cement a spot as one of the final eight teams to advance in the NBA Cup.
The Celtics could have increased their odds of advancing on Saturday night with a bigger win over the Bulls. They did manage to keep themselves alive though with the victory and now look for some manageable help Tuesday night in order to advance.
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