The Boston Celtics have officially been eliminated from the 2024 NBA Cup.
Their hopes of advancing to the tournament's knockout stage were dashed Tuesday night. To clinch the Eastern Conference wild card spot, they needed multiple scenarios to go their way:
- The Orlando Magic to beat the New York Knicks OR the Knicks to win by 38+ points.
- The Milwaukee Bucks to beat the Detroit Pistons by 6+ OR the Pistons to win by 7+.
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Milwaukee held up its end of the bargain with a 128-107 victory over Detroit, but Orlando suffered a 121-106 loss to New York.
As a result, the Knicks won East Group A with a perfect 4-0 record in Group Play. The Magic earned the East wild card with their +45 point differential as the tiebreaker. The Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks tied for the best record in East Group C (3-1), but the Hawks earned the tiebreaker with their win over the C's on Nov. 12.
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The NBA Cup will continue without the Celtics when the knockout round begins on Dec. 10. As for the C's, they will have two regular-season games added to their schedule, both of which will air on NBC Sports Boston:
- Thursday, Dec. 12: Celtics vs. Pistons at 7:30 p.m. ET
- Sunday, Dec. 15: Celtics at Wizards at 6 p.m. ET
First, the C's will return to action against the Pistons on Wednesday night. Tip-off for that matchup is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.