Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls clash in important NBA Cup game for both

CHICAGO – The Chicago Bulls will take on the visiting Boston Celtics in a crucial NBA Cup encounter on Nov 29 (Nov 30, Singapore time).

Boston, Chicago and the Atlanta Hawks are all 2-1 in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference Group C standings. The Cleveland Cavaliers are 1-1 and sitting at the bottom on 0-3 are the Washington Wizards.

The permutations, however, are complex.

The Bulls will be the Group C champions if they beat the Celtics and the Hawks beat the Cavaliers. Chicago own the tiebreaker over Atlanta based on their head-to-head record over the Hawks this season.

If Chicago and Cleveland win, the Bulls would also finish first in Group C if the Cavaliers lose to the Wizards on Dec 3. That scenario would leave Chicago as the lone 3-1 team in the group.

But if the Bulls and Cavs finish 3-1, Cleveland will be the Group C winners based on their head-to-head victory over Chicago. The Bulls would need to win the point-differential tiebreaker against other 3-1 non-group champions to earn the Eastern Conference’s lone wildcard spot.

A win over Chicago plus a Cleveland victory would result in the Celtics topping Group C. Boston own the tiebreaker against Cleveland because the Celtics beat the Cavaliers 120-117 on Nov 19.

“Ultimately, we want to win,” Boston centre Neemias Queta said.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s (an NBA Cup) game or a regular-season match-up – we strive for excellence every time we step on the court.”

The Bulls are coming off a 133-119 loss to the Orlando Magic. Ayo Dosunmu led the team with 21 points, and Nikola Vucevic added 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Chicago’s Lonzo Ball returned to action against the Magic after missing 15 games with a sprained wrist. He scored six points and had four steals and two blocked shots in 15 minutes.

“It was really good to have him back,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said at Kia Centre.

“He’s going to help us. I give him a lot of credit for the work he put in to get himself back ready to play. It’s amazing to me that he can come out the first night out and play as well as he did in a limited amount of time.”

Boston have had a break since their 126-94 triumph over the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov 25. That game marked the season debut for Kristaps Porzingis, who had been recovering from off-season foot surgery.

Porzingis had 16 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes against the Clippers.

“I felt better than expected,” the centre said.

“Obviously, the first wind is pretty crazy, you know, lungs burning, legs burning, everything. But after that, it was decent and just normal. It has been killing me inside not to be able to be out there, but it was worth the wait.”

He also had two of Boston’s season-high 11 blocked shots during the win.

“We have to get better at protecting the rim, which we saw a little bit of that (on Monday),” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said.

“When we’re fully healthy, it allows us to play different line-ups, like more double-big situations where protecting the rim is easier because of the type of versatility we have out there.”

The victory extended Boston’s winning streak to six games. The Celtics have an 8-1 road record this season, while the Bulls are 2-6 at home.

Meanwhile, the Hawks are out to deliver again following their 135-124 win over the Cavaliers.

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson could not have asked for a better start to his time in Cleveland, with his side winning 17 of their first 19 games to top the Eastern Conference.

However, he knows games cannot always go according to script. The loss to the Hawks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse proved that.

“We hadn’t had a stinker yet this year,” Atkinson said.

“That was a stinker. It happens in the NBA. It’s unfortunate that it happened in front of our home crowd, but we kind of deserved what we got. Our communication has got to be better, our physicality has to be better.” REUTERS, AFP