On Tuesday afternoon, the NBA released the schedule for the group stage of this season’s Emirates NBA Cup. The Boston Celtics will be a part of the Eastern Conference’s “Group C,” along with the Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Washington Wizards.
Boston’s group play will tip-off on November 12, when they host the Hawks at TD Garden. A week later, on the 19th, the Cavaliers will come to town for an Eastern Conference Semifinals rematch.
The Cs will play their remaining two group-stage games on the road, first, heading to Washington to face the Wizards on November 22, then Chicago to wrap against the Bulls on the 29th.
Last year, the World-Champion Celtics finished atop their group before falling to the Indiana Pacers (who later won the Eastern Conference side of the bracket) in the tournament’s quarterfinals.
Group C isn’t exactly the most menacing bunch of teams. Aside from Boston, only the Cavs earned a playoff berth in 2024, while Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington waited for ping-pong balls at the Draft Lottery.
With that being said, having their meeting with Cleveland at home might prove to be vital for the Cs. We haven’t seen any of these current rosters play just yet, but it’s not hard to imagine that the winner of that matchup will go on to finish first in the group and earn a spot in the quarterfinals, which will be played on December 10 and 11.
Even if the Celtics don’t win their group, they can still qualify to advance by earning the Eastern Conference wild-card spot. The wild card will go to the second-place team with the best record.
Should two teams be tied for a group’s best record, the following, in order, will determine the tiebreaker:
- Head-to-head record in Group Play;
- Point differential in Group Play;
- Total points scored in Group Play;
- Record from the 2023-24 NBA regular season; and
- Random drawing (in the unlikely scenario that two or more teams are still tied following the previous tiebreakers).
Just like last season, the semifinals and championship will be held in Las Vegas. Those games will be played on December 14 and 17, respectively.
All games, aside from the final, will count towards each team’s regular-season record.
