Celtics' Joe Mazzulla Using NBA Cup Games to Gain Advantage in Peculiar Way

The NBA Cup requires different situational tactics.

Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The rules of the 2024 NBA Cup have caused the Boston Celtics to take a different approach to their group stage games than an ordinary regular season game. The nature of the cup, which uses point differential as a tiebreaker, allows the Celtics to try and up the score against opponents to better differential.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula appreciates that this part of the NBA Cup rules gives him the opportunity to take different tactical approaches to in-game situations.

“I like it because this tournament and the point differential kind of eliminates the unwritten rules that you’re supposed to follow or not follow,” Mazzulla told reporters of the NBA Cup rules. “Where in a normal situation, you wouldn’t do that. But in this one, you get to draw up a play and try to get better in that situation. So guys did a good job executing and we tried to extend the point differential as much as we could.”

The Celtics remain alive in the NBA Cup after defeating the Chicago Bulls 138-129 on Friday. Boston currently can only advance past the group stages of the NBA Cup and qualify for the knockout rounds through a wildcard spot. The Celtics are tied with the Atlanta Hawks at 3-1 in East Group C, but the Hawks have the tiebreaker after beating Boston 117-116 on Nov. 12 in the group stages.

The Celtics are competing with the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, and Milwaukee Bucks for the lone wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. The Magic and Knicks and the Bucks and Pistons will face off on Tuesday to determine which teams officially qualify into the quarterfinals.

The easiest way for the Celtics to qualify would be for the Magic to defeat the Knicks and for either the Bucks or Pistons to lose by a significant enough margin to give the Celtics the edge in point differential.

During the inaugural NBA in-season tournament in 2023, the Celtics advanced to the quarterfinals through holding the edge in point differential. They fell to the Indiana Pacers in the quarterfinals but still advanced to the knockout stages.

As the Celtics await their fate to be determined on Tuesday, they have to upcoming games against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat.

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