How Orlando Magic Qualifies for In-Season Tournament Knockout Round
ORLANDO - The Orlando Magic is 3-1 in In-Season Tournament play after its 113-96 victory against the Boston Celtics on Friday afternoon ... and the team will be eagerly awaiting the results from Tuesday night's games, the last in group play.
With the win, Orlando is the first Group C team with three wins, giving it the inside path towards winning the group. Now, the Magic will sit and wait on Tuesday to watch the results from the other two Group C games, which will ultimately determine who wins the group.
The Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors are already eliminated with two losses each, but they could play spoiler and help the Magic out.
Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac defending Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum
Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports
Here's a look at the scenarios that could arise tonight ...
Celtics beat Bulls, Nets beat Raptors
In this case, the Celtics and Nets both win at home and improve to 3-1 with the Magic. This would create a three-way tie and trigger the point differential tiebreaker because the Celtics beat the Nets, who beat the Magic, who beat the Celtics.
Orlando is at +22, while Brooklyn is at +8 and Boston is at 0. As long as the Celtics win by 21 or fewer and if the Nets win by 13 points or fewer, the Magic will win Group C.
Bulls beat Celtics, Nets beat Raptors
In this scenario, the Magic would finish in second place to the Nets because Orlando lost in Brooklyn.
By virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker, Brooklyn would win Group C while Orlando would have a chance to clinch the wild card spot.
Bulls beat Celtics, Raptors beat Nets
In this scenario, the Magic would finish in first place to the Celtics because Orlando beat Boston.
By virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker, Orlando would win Group C while Boston would have a chance to clinch the wild card spot.
