How Celtics Went 3-1 in Summer League but Missed Playoffs on Tiebreaker

How Celtics Went 3-1 in Summer League but Missed Playoffs on Tiebreaker originally appeared on NESN.
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The Boston Celtics put together an overall impressive showing in the first four games at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, going 3-1.

Despite that, they aren’t in the Summer League playoff bracket. Tiebreakers didn’t work out in their favor.

The Celtics aren’t done, as they’ll take on the Orlando Magic in consolation action on Saturday afternoon.

They weren’t far off from being in the fun playoff bracket, though, which allows young players and journeymen grinding for a roster spot to compete for a trophy.

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Why aren’t the Celtics in NBA Summer League playoffs?

The tiebreakers worked against the Celtics.

There was only one team in Summer League that went 4-0 — the Los Angeles Lakers, who make it to the semifinal round of the playoffs.

When two or more teams are tied beyond that — in this case nine teams with a 3-1 record — the next tiebreaker is point differential.

The Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors held the three best point differentials.

They won by an average of 11.5 points, 11.0 points and 6.3 points per game, respectively.

The Celtics’ winning differential was just 2.2 points per game, second-worst among the 3-1 teams.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably not a huge deal. The Celtics have gotten a lot of solid development done in Vegas and can still do that in consolation action.

But it’s just too bad that things didn’t break in a slightly better way to allow them to keep playing for something more, even if it’s something small like a Summer League championship.

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