The Celtics’ shocking failure has the Cavaliers set up to win the NBA Cup

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 to the regular season games, and they introduced pageants, custom fields 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 point difference tiebreaker to advance to the knockout rounds. This time, Cleveland hopes to improve on that performance and win the second edition of the NBA Cup.

The team standing in the way in East Group C is the Boston Celtics, the defending champions and best team in the league from top to bottom. The two teams will meet next Tuesday, and heading into the start of the NBA Cup games, it was believed that the Cavs and Celtics would likely wash 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.

On 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 should 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.

After that, the Hawks continued to hang with the Celtics all night and steal the game away from them – literally at times, with Dyson Daniels getting six steals and the Hawks as a team totaling 16. Atlanta scored on a tip-in from Onyeka Okongwu with with six seconds left to take a one-point lead, Jaylen Brown missed a shot at the buzzer. Hawks 117, Celtics 116.

The upset was historic, as teams favored by the many points very rarely lose. For Boston to lose its home game to open NBA Cup play, they suddenly put themselves at a disadvantage trying to win the group — and the Cavaliers are now favored to win not only the group, but the entire NBA Cup.

The Cleveland Cavaliers begin group stage 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 make the road to win it, it opens up for 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 also won their other games, they would have finished 3-1 and been a strong contender 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 2-2 at best and essentially be eliminated from reaching the knockout rounds. That opens the door 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 at worst, if they lose to Boston, they can still advance by going 3-0 in their other games with enough points, same as before.

The NBA Cup has had some surprising results so far, with Atlanta beating Boston as impressively as the Portland Trail Blazers knocking off the Minnesota Timberwolves. The 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 could be in pole position to win it all. If they are, it could 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 they can get.

dark. Next. Risky Cavaliers trade proposal goes all in on a Finals round. Risky Cavaliers trade proposal goes all in on a Finals round