What's at stake for Celtics entering NBA Cup group finale vs. Bulls

The Boston Celtics' game against the Chicago Bulls on Friday isn't just any late-November road matchup against a sub-.500 team.

Celtics at Bulls (8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston) marks Boston's final game in the group stage of the 2024 NBA Cup, the league's in-season tournament. And there's plenty at stake for the Celtics, who need a win (and some help) to advance to the quarterfinals.

We'll get into how the C's can advance to the knockout stage but first, here's a look at the updated Group C standings.

Since the Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, the Celtics cannot win Group C. Atlanta beat Boston in their group play opener to earn the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Bulls need a win over the C's to have a shot at overtaking the Hawks.

In addition to the group winners, one "wild card" team from each conference advances to the quarterfinals. The top tiebreaker for wild cards is point differential, so in order to earn the wild card, the Celtics would need to have a better point differential than every Eastern Conference team that also went 3-1 but didn't win its group.

MORE CELTICS COVERAGE

Chris Forsberg Nov 27

Celtics Mailbag: How will Porzingis' return impact the rotation?

Boston Celtics Nov 26

Hawks fined for holding Trae Young out of NBA Cup game vs. Celtics

Chris Forsberg Nov 26

Celtics ooze familiar machismo with Porzingis back on the court

Since there are more group play games next Tuesday, the C's don't know the exact point differential needed to earn the wild card spot. So, they'll simply have to run the score up on Chicago as much as possible Friday night and hope for the best from the other group play games on Friday and Tuesday.

UPDATE (10:40 p.m. ET): The Celtics beat the Bulls 138-129 Friday night, giving them a 3-1 record and +23 point differential in Group C. Here's what needs to happen for Boston to earn the East wild card spot, per 98.5 The Sports Hub's Sean Grande.