For the second straight season, the Celtics might need to run up the score against the Bulls to book a spot in the NBA Cup knockout rounds.

Or, a simple win over Chicago might suffice.

That will depend on what happens Friday afternoon, when the Atlanta Hawks host the Cleveland Cavaliers at 2:30 p.m. ET. The Celtics visit the Bulls that evening (8 p.m. ET). All four teams are vying for the top spot in Eastern Conference Group C and the automatic berth in the quarterfinals that comes with it.

For Boston, the simplest path through is to beat Chicago and have Atlanta lose to Cleveland. That would lock the Celtics into first place in Group C regardless of how the Cavaliers fare in their group-play finale against Washington next Tuesday.

If the Celtics and Hawks both win on Friday, Boston’s path gets trickier. Both teams would finish with 3-1 records in group play, and Atlanta holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the C’s thanks to its 117-116 win at TD Garden on Nov. 12.

In that scenario, the Hawks would win the group, and the Celtics would need to hope for a wild-card spot, which goes to the second-place team in each conference with the best group-play record and point differential. Boston’s point differential sits at plus-14 with one game remaining; last season, both wild-card teams were plus-34 or better.

Current Group C standings:

1. Chicago Bulls, 2-1 (+15)
2. Atlanta Hawks, 2-1 (-1)
3. Boston Celtics, 2-1 (+14)
4. Cleveland Cavaliers, 1-1 (+15)
5. Washington Wizards, 0-3 (-43)

The Celtics will have the benefit of knowing before tipoff how they should approach Friday night’s game, since the Hawks’ matinee matchup will be finished by that point.

If Atlanta loses, Boston can focus just on defeating Chicago with no concern for margin of victory. If Atlanta wins, blowing out the Bulls would become the primary goal. The Celtics then would need to sweat out the final night of group-play games next Tuesday to learn whether they did enough to secure a wild-card spot.

The Celtics faced the latter in last year’s In-Season Tournament (as the inaugural event was called), needing a lopsided win over the Bulls to make it out of group play. That necessary emphasis on point differential prompted head coach Joe Mazzulla to play his starters with Boston up big in the fourth quarter and intentionally foul Chicago big Andre Drummond, a poor free-throw shooter.

“It’s something you never really did before, never really thought about,” guard Derrick White said, calling the experience of needing to win by as many points as possible “just weird.”

“I remember we needed to win by 24 or something,” White recalled. “It’s different from any other game, and that’s what the league kind of wants. At that moment, we knew that if we wanted to advance, we needed to beat them by at least 24. So obviously win the game first, and then see what we do after that.”

The Celtics wound up winning by 27 and advancing to the single-elimination quarterfinals, where their tournament run ended with a loss to the Indiana Pacers.

A defeat Friday in Chicago — which entered Wednesday with an overall record of 8-11 and the league’s eighth-worst net rating — would eliminate Boston from NBA Cup contention.

The quarterfinals will be held Dec. 10 and 11 at home venues, with the semifinals and championship (both at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas) following on Dec. 14 and 17, respectively. Players on all teams that reach the knockout rounds receive escalating prize-money bonuses: $51,497 per player for the losing quarterfinalists, $102,994 for the losing semifinalists, $205,988 for the runners-up and $514,970 for the champions.

Those payouts might not motivate highly paid superstars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but they represent a significant raise for players further down the depth chart. Players like reserve Celtics center Neemias Queta, whose three-year contract pays him $2.16 million this season.

“Above everything, we want to win,” Queta said when asked about the allure of NBA Cup bonuses. “We want to win every game when we come in there. Whether it’s a Cup game, whether it’s a regular-season game, playoffs — it doesn’t matter. You come in there trying to play 48 minutes of great basketball and trying to win.

“Obviously for the tournament, it’s a bigger emphasis, and obviously you’ve got the money, as well. Those things also help you come in there and play maybe a little bit harder. But like I said, our main goal is winning at all costs. Whoever is on the court, whatever day of the week it is.”

Mazzulla high on C’s defense

President of basketball Brad Stevens lamented some of the layups the Celtics allowed during his interview on NBC Sports Boston’s game broadcast Monday night, underscoring the team’s issues with rim protection so far this season.

Mazzulla acknowledged the Celtics need to improve in that area — which he believes they will now that center Kristaps Porzingis is back from offseason leg surgery — but said he’s been pleased with Boston’s overall defense.

The Celtics’ defensive rating is a few ticks better this season (110.2) than it was a year ago (110.6), and though they’ve allowed more layups with Porzingis missing the first 17 games, they’ve surrendered fewer 3-pointers (11.7, tied for fewest in the NBA).

“I think our defense statistically is where it was last year at this point,” Mazzulla said. “So defensive issues, the fact that at times we don’t protect the rim, that’s just the easiest thing to see and go to, because it’s a layup and you’re supposed to easily take those away all the time. I like where we’re at defensively from a competitive standpoint. I like where we’re at, where our reads and coverages have been. We have to get better at protecting the rim, which we saw a little bit of that (on Monday), and I think when we’re fully healthy, it allows us to play different lineups like more double-big situations where protecting the rim is easier because of the type of versatility we have out there.

“So I don’t know if they’re issues as much as, when you play a certain way, these are the things you have to fight not to give up versus what you’re willing to give up. But I like our competitive spirit, I like what we’re doing tactically, I like the reads we’re making. We’ve just got to continue to get better there.”

The 94 points Boston allowed in Monday’s rout of the Los Angeles Clippers was the second-lowest mark of the season for Mazzulla’s club.