Why Celtics were eliminated from Summer League playoffs despite win over Kings

The Celtics put together an impressive week of performances in Summer League under coach Amile Jefferson, including an 82-76 win over the Kings on Wednesday night at Thomas and Mack Arena.

The victory improved Boston to 3-1 in Summer League play as their initial four-game schedule wrapped up. The top four teams in Summer League advance to the two-round playoff format to crown a champion this week and Boston currently sits in a multi-team tie for third place at 3-1.

Summer League standings

Lakers 3-0

Hawks 3-0

Suns 3-1

Spurs 3-1

Celtics 3-1

Magic 3-1

Nets 2-1

Rockets 2-1

Grizzlies 2-1

Warriors 2-1

Raptors 2-1

Nuggets 2-1

Boston will have Thursday off as several other teams wrap up their original schedule before the playoff round. However, despite a strong showing this week, Boston does not have the tiebreakers on their side and have been eliminated from the knockout round already despite their 3-1 record.

The problem for the Celtics? Point differential. That’s the second tiebreaker in the standings for Summer League after head-to-head matchups. Boston (+9) already sits behind the Spurs (+16) and Suns (+15) among teams that have finished with a 3-1 record. The Celtics also lost to the 3-0 Hawks in head-to-head, a team with a massive edge in point differential (+46).

With two teams that have 2-1 records that will face each other on Thursday (Nets vs. Rockets), and already boast a greater point differentials than Boston, it means the Celtics are drawing dead. Four teams are guaranteed to finish ahead of the Celtics in the standings when tiebreakers are used.

Despite Wednesday’s win over the Kings, the Celtics were done in by Sacramento’s fourth-quarter 17-3 run that trimmed Boston’s 16-point lead to two with a minute remaining. The Celtics fought back to secure the win but it wasn’t by a big enough margin to help them in the Summer League standings. Ultimately, Jefferson was still proud of how the team performed in crunch time.

“When you are trying to get the win, you always want to get the win by as much as possible,” Jefferson said on Summer League strategy via CLNS Media. “They are a really good team and they don’t quit. … Credit to our guys for not getting tight. We just played through it and had an immediate response. I was really proud of them to have that response.”

The Celtics will close out their Summer League schedule with a consolation game on Friday or Saturday.

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