After their shock defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1, the Boston Celtics bounced back with a big 121-87 win in Game 2 to even up their NBA Eastern Conference semi-final series.
Newly crowned NBA MVP Joel Embiid returned from a sprained knee, but James Harden could not recreate his Game 2 heroics as the Sixers were simply unable to keep up with the Celtics’ hot shooting.
The Celtics saw another sparkling performance from Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, while Grant Williams also delivered good minutes as he was called upon from the Celtics’ bench.
Read on below as SBOTOP shares four takeaways – two for the Sixers and two for the Celtics – from Game 2 of this Eastern Conference series.
Embiid returns but far from MVP self
The big NBA 2023 news before Game 2 was that new NBA MVP Joel Embiid would finally return to the Sixers’ lineup after missing the last couple of games due to a sprained knee.
However, Embiid was far from the player who led the NBA in scoring with 33 points per game. The star centre finished with 15 points and 3 rebounds with 5 blocks in 27 minutes during his first game back.
There were questions about whether Sixers coach Doc Rivers made the right decision to play Embiid in Game 2 instead of resting him further for Game 3 in Philadelphia. They had already claimed the big road win, and there was a case to be made that the additional recovery time would have benefitted Embiid and the Sixers more in the long run.
But Embiid at least got to shake off some rust ahead of Game 3, and the wait is now on to see how his knee reacts in the coming days.
Harden goes from hero to zero
James Harden was the Sixers’ big hero in Game 1 as he delivered perhaps the greatest playoff performance of his career with 45 points and the game-winning 3-pointer in Embiid’s absence.
However, that version of Harden was nowhere to be found in Game 2 as he finished with just 12 points on 2- of 14 shooting and 0 of 6 on 3-pointers.
This is more in line with how Harden played in Round 1 of the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets, where he shot just 34 per cent from the field.
With Embiid still working his way back, the Sixers’ NBA 2023 odds of winning this series will not be good if this is the Harden who shows up when they return home for Games 3 and 4.
Sixth man Brogdon shines again for C’s
It bodes well for Boston that they were able to so comfortably blow out the Sixers despite getting only 7 points (1-7 FG) from superstar Jayson Tatum. With the All-Star MVP struggling, Malcolm Brogdon stepped up and had another big game with 23 points on 7 of 15 shooting, including six 3-pointers.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 25 points, while Derrick White had a good bounce-back game. White, who has been so strong in these playoffs, finished with 15 points after scoring just 11 in his last two games.
Brogdon, the newly crowned Sixth Man of the Year, is certainly justifying that award in this series. Over the first two games, he is averaging 21.5 points off the Boston bench.
Tatum will almost certainly bounce back from his rough game, but with Marcus Smart banged up with a few injuries, Brogdon will continue to play a pivotal role in the Celtics’ playoff run.
Grant Williams returns to rotation
Speaking of the Boston bench, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla made a big adjustment from Game 1 as he brought Grant Williams back into the rotation. Williams, who has surprisingly seen his minutes decline this season, played 29 minutes – by far his most in the playoffs – in Game 2 and contributed 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting on 3-pointers.
It may not be a coincidence that Mazzulla made the move to bring Williams back to the fold upon Embiid’s return. Williams is a stout defender, especially in the post, and he played some solid defence on the reigning MVP.
Mazzulla’s rotations have been hard to predict for the whole season, but Williams has made a strong case to be part of the Celtics’ rotation for the remainder of the Sixers series.
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