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The Boston Celtics failed to advance past the group stage of the 2024 NBA Cup despite entering the season as the reigning NBA champions. Can they flip that script in 2025? The 2025 NBA Cup -- the league's third iteration of the in-season tournament that launched in 2023 -- kicks off Friday night with the first games of group play. The Celtics are in Group B along with the Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic and Brooklyn Nets, and begin the group stage Friday night against the Sixers. What will it take for the C's to reach the knockout stage? We've got you covered with a full rundown of the NBA Cup, followed by Boston's schedule in Cup play and the latest Group B standings. 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. The teams that lose in the quarterfinals in each conference will play each other in a regular-season game on Dec. 11, 12, 14 or 15. MORE CELTICS COVERAGE 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. Friday, Oct. 31: Celtics vs. 76ers, 7 p.m. ET (Amazon Prime) Friday, Nov. 7: Celtics vs. Magic, 7 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Boston) Friday, Nov. 21: Nets vs. Celtics, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Boston) Wednesday, Nov. 26: Pistons vs. Celtics, 5 p.m. ET (ESPN) 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.
