Orlando Magic Eliminated From In-Season Tournament After Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets Win
ORLANDO - The Orlando Magic is disappointed Tuesday night after the team was eliminated from the In-Season Tournament.
The elimination came after the Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls by 27 points and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors to trigger the point-differential tiebreaker.
The Magic would have qualified had the Raptors beat the Nets because Orlando would have won a two-team tiebreaker against the Celtics.
The Orlando Magic's loss against the Brooklyn Nets proved to be the fatal blow.
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With the result, the Celtics are the official winners of East Group C. They join the Indiana Pacers (East Group A winners) in the knockout round. The final two spots will go to the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks, who both qualified from East Group B. The Bucks (4-0) will host the Knicks (3-1), while the Pacers (4-0) will host the Celtics (3-1).
The Western Conference results will be revealed later tonight. However, the Los Angeles Lakers have already qualified by winning West Group A. The Phoenix Suns are the likeliest team to win the Wild Card with a 3-1 record and a +34 differential.
With the Magic eliminated, the team will now be given two games by the league, one home and one away, against Eastern Conference teams to satisfy the rest of its schedule. These games will be played on Wednesday, Dec. 6 and Friday, Dec. 8 against teams that did not qualify for the knockout round.
Orlando is back in action tomorrow night in regular season action when the Washington Wizards come to town. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET inside the Amway Center.
