How Celtics’ Blowout Loss Impacts NBA In-Season Tournament Standings

The Boston Celtics dug themselves quite a hole after uncharacteristically falling in double-figures to the Orlando Magic on Friday night, jeopardizing their NBA In-Season Tournament chances.

Handed a 113-96 loss to mark Boston’s fourth road defeat of the season, the Celtics fell to 2-1 in tournament play, right behind the 3-1 Magic in Group C. What does that mean? Well, to put it simply, Boston’s not in a favorable position, but also not out of it either.

Getting shoved back into the losers column with a 17-point defeat courtesy of the Magic means the Celtics need to blowout the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night — Boston’s next tournament matchup. And even so, the Celtics could possibly end up in a three-way tie scenario leaving point differential as the determining factor for a quarterfinals spot.

However, point differential isn’t a favorable route for the C’s at this point.

Here’s a look at the Group C standings after Friday night’s loss:

Orlando Magic: 3-1 (+22)
Boston Celtics: 2-1 (+0)
Brooklyn Nets: 2-1 (+8)
Chicago Bulls: 0-1 (-8)
Toronto Raptors: 0-1 (-22)

It’s not easy, but still very possible for the Celtics to keep their quarterfinal hopes alive pending they handle business and take advantage of the 5-11 Bulls. Running Chicago off the floor at TD Garden, where the C’s have yet to be defeated in six matchups thus far, would bolster Boston’s chances better than any other scenario.

That would require the Celtics to polish several areas of their game that backfired on them, most notably in a second half in which Boston got outscored 65-40 by Orlando.

“We just didn’t execute and you have the guard them in transition,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “The best thing they do is play in transition, get to the free-throw line and offensive rebound. Tonight we did a decent job on the free throws, did a poor job in transition and poor job on the offensive glass.”

Granted, not having Jrue Holiday and losing Kristaps Porzingis early isn’t the ideal recipe for success, but those are the nights in which the Celtics need to be able to trust their depth. Allowing the Magic to constantly turn Boston misses into baskets on their end, get out-scored on second-chance opportunities 21-8 and lose the rebound battle by 17 (48-31) will create a back-against-the-wall divot on any given night.

They’ll get their chance to clean up when taking on the Bulls who have the NBA’s third-weakest offense, averaging just 106.4 points — the worst of any team in the Eastern Conference. Chicago’s defense, on the other hand, is much better, holding opponents to 111.3 points a night — 10th in the NBA.

Before that redemption shot, the Celtics will first face off against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.