Where the Celtics stand before the ultimate game of the group stage

Celtics

The Celtics call it a day on Friday evening NBA Cup Group stage with an away game against the Chicago Bulls.

In the NBA Cup, a team plays each of the opposite 4 teams in its group once within the group stage.

The team with the very best record advances to the knockout rounds. There are six group winners and two wildcard teams (one per conference) that advance to the quarterfinals. From then on, it’s a single elimination tournament to find out the NBA Cup champion.

The Celtics and Hawks are each 2-1 Group C East rankings. The Cavs, Bulls and Wizards each have two games left.

The tiebreakers are so as: direct record, point difference, total points in group play, record from last yr's regular season. Should one other tiebreaker be required after this, a random draw shall be made.

The Celtics would want a win against the Bulls and a Cavaliers win against Atlanta to emerge as East Group C winners.

The Celtics suffered a loss to the Hawks within the group stage, which puts Atlanta above them within the head-to-head comparison. A loss to the Cavs would drop the Hawks' record to 2-2, while the Celtics can be 3-1.

Cleveland can be tied with the Celtics in the event that they beat Washington and Atlanta. The Celtics are in a head-to-head tiebreaker against the Cavs attributable to their 120-117 victory over Cleveland at TD Garden earlier this month.

There is a scenario through which the Celtics could lose to Chicago and advance – if all five teams finish 2-2. Then the purpose difference tiebreaker would come into play.

For this scenario to occur, Washington would must beat Cleveland and Chicago, and Cleveland would must beat Atlanta.

The Celtics are currently second behind the Cavaliers in point differential amongst East Group C teams.

The NBA Cup quarterfinals shall be played December 10-11. The semifinals (December 14) and championship round (December 17) shall be played on the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.