The Boston Celtics currently sit 10th in the NBA’s Eastern Conference at 4-5 after an up-and-down start to the 2025-26 season. But if they defeat the Orlando Magic on Friday night, they can lay claim to first place in Group B of the 2025 NBA Cup.
The league’s third annual in-season tournament continues Friday with more group play action, as Celtics-Magic is one of 11 games around the league that will count toward the NBA Cup standings. The C’s — who are in Group B of the NBA Cup along with the Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons and Brooklyn Nets — are 1-0 in the group stage after edging the Sixers 109-108 last Friday in their NBA Cup opener.
That Celtics-Sixers game has been the only Group B game to date, as the Magic, Pistons and Nets have yet to begin their NBA Cup slates. All three teams are in action Friday, however — Detroit and Brooklyn play at 7:30 p.m. ET — so we’ll see more movement in the standings by the end of the night.
As a reminder, point differential is a key tiebreaker in the NBA Cup, so expect both the Celtics and Magic to play hard until the final whistle, even if the game is already in hand for either side.
How will it all play out? Below is a brief refresher on the NBA Cup format, followed by the Celtics’ schedule and the Group B standings, which we’ll update at the conclusion Friday’s games.
How does the NBA Cup work?
The tournament begins with the group stage. All 30 teams will compete in group play, having been placed into six groups of five teams within their conference. Teams face each of their group opponents once for a total of four group play games (two at home and two on the road).
Eight teams advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds: the top team in each of the six groups and a wild card team in each conference that’s awarded to the second-place finisher with the best overall record.
If two or more teams are tied within a group, the following tiebreakers are used:
- Head-to-head record in group play
- Point differential in group play
- Total points scored in group play
- Record from the 2024-25 NBA regular season
- Random drawing
The knockout rounds begin with quarterfinal games on Dec. 9 and 10 hosted by the higher seed, and then the semifinals and finals, which will be held in Las Vegas.
All Group Stage games count toward teams’ regular-season records. Teams enter the season with only 80 scheduled games, and the 22 teams that don’t advance to the knockout round will play two regular-season games during tournament off nights on Dec. 11/12 and Dec. 14/15.
Celtics’ Group B schedule
The Celtics’ four Group Stage games will be played across a 27-day span from Halloween until the day before Thanksgiving.
Group B Standings
Each team in Group B will play each other once during Group Stage play. If two teams have the same record in group play, the first two tiebreakers are head-to-head record and point differential.
Here are the Group B standings, which we’ll update throughout group play:
