Trae Young tweets ‘Thank you Boston’ after Hawks win NBA Cup tiebreaker over Celtics
The Hawks won the tiebreaker with the Celtics to advance as the East Group C winner.
Shortly after the Celtics beat the Bulls Friday night, Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young tweeted out the words “Thank you Boston” along with a couple of emojis.
Atlanta had beaten the Cavaliers earlier on Friday, tying the Celtics’ 3-1 record in group stage play. Atlanta had a head-to-head victory over Boston in group stage, which gave the Hawks the tiebreaker over the Celtics. It was the Celtics’ only loss in group stage play.
Atlanta advanced to the NBA Cup knockout rounds as the winner of East Group C.
The Hawks now have a spot in the NBA Cup quarterfinals. The NBA Cup becomes a single-elimination tournament during the knockout rounds, with the semifinals and championship taking place in Las Vegas next month.
The Celtics’ NBA Cup hopes are still alive, as they could still win the Wild Card berth, which will be decided after Tuesday night’s games.
Both of the losers from Tuesday night’s Bucks-Pistons and Knicks-Magic matchups will be tied at 3-1, and point differential tiebreakers could decide who advances.
The Celtics’ point differential is +23, which means if either loser of Tuesday night’s matchup finishes with a point differential of +24, the Celtics would lose the tiebreaker to that team.
If both teams finish with a +22 point differential or less, the Celtics would win the tiebreaker in advance. If any team ties the Celtics at +23, then the next tiebreaker, total points scored in the tournament, would come into play.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla spoke after the game about why he enjoys the point differential rule.
“I like it because this tournament and the point differential kind of eliminates all the unwritten rules that you’re supposed to follow or not follow,” Mazzulla said. “Where in a normal situation you wouldn’t do that, but in this one you get to look at a need and you get to draw up a play to try to get better in that situation. So, guys did a good job of executing and we tried to extend the point differential as much as we could.”
NBA Cup quarterfinal play begins Dec. 10. The Hawks have their spot, and the Celtics need some luck to secure one of their own.
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