The NBA Cup is back for its second season after the first run was extremely successful. Adam Silver and the league office decided that an "In-Season Tournament" would add energy and intensity into run-of-the-mill regular season games, and they introduced pageantry, custom courts and games in Las Vegas to make it extra-special. The result? Teams, players and fans suddenly cared about regular-season basketball.
The Cleveland Cavaliers did well last season, going 3-1 in their group but missing out on the tiebreaker of point differential to advance into the knockout rounds. This time around, Cleveland hopes to improve on that performance and win the second edition of the NBA Cup.
The team standing in their way in East Group C is the Boston Celtics, the defending champions and best team in the league top-to-bottom. The two teams will meet next Tuesday, and heading into the start of NBA Cup games it was assumed that the Cavs and Celtics would likely mop the floor with the other teams in their group -- the Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls - and the winner of their head-to-head game would win the group.
Not so fast.
The Celtics’ loss is the Cavaliers’ blessing
Tuesday night the league played its first NBA Cup games, and the Boston Celtics hosted the Atlanta Hawks to start Group Play for "East Group C" in what was supposed to be an easy Boston win. Not only are the Celtics a better team than Atlanta at full-strength, but the Hawks were missing a number of key players, including Trae Young, Bogdan Bogdanovic and De'Andre Hunter. The game opened with Boston a 15.5 point favorite.
Then the Hawks proceeded to hang with the Celtics all night and steal the game away from them -- quite literally at times, with Dyson Daniels racking up six steals and the Hawks as a team totaling 16. Atlanta scored on an Onyeka Okongwu tip-in with six seconds to go to take a one-point lead, and Jaylen Brown missed a shot at the buzzer. Hawks 117, Celtics 116.
The upset was an historic one, as teams favored by that many points very rarely lose. For Boston to lose the game on its home court to open NBA Cup play, they suddenly put themselves at a disadvantage in trying to win the group -- and the Cavaliers are now favored to not only win the group, but the entire NBA Cup.
The Cleveland Cavaliers begin Group Play tonight against the Chicago Bulls, and then face the Celtics on Tuesday night. They were always going to have to beat the Celtics to win Group C, but now if they do the path to win it it all is opening up before them.
If the Cavaliers prevail on Tuesday and otherwise win their other group games, they will finish 4-0 and likely be the top seed heading into the East knockout rounds. If the Celtics had likewise won their other games, they would have finished 3-1 and been a strong candidate to finish as the fourth seed - thus facing the Cavs again. Literally any other team in the East would be an easier opponent for the Cavs than the defending champions.
Now, if Boston loses to Cleveland on Tuesday, they will finish at best 2-2 and essentially be eliminated from reaching the knockout rounds. That opens up the field for the Cavaliers to take advantage.
The Cavaliers also have room for error now. If they beat Boston but lose another game they will still be in good position to win the group. And in the worst case, if they lose to Boston, they still can advance by going 3-0 in their other games by enough points, same as before.
The NBA Cup has had some surprising results thus far, with Atlanta beating Boston similarly impressive as the Portland Trail Blazers knocking off the Minnesota Timberwolves. Action returns tonight, Friday, and will continue through the next few weeks on Tuesdays and Fridays.
By the time the knockout rounds roll around, the Cavaliers oculd be in pole position to win it all. If they are, it may lead back to the Celtics stumbling on a Tuesday night against the shorthanded Hawks. It’s hard to win anything in the NBA, and the Cavaliers will take all the help that they can get.