There was a notion that because the 76ers stole Monday’s Game 1 without him, that they would give Joel Embiid some extra rest to recover from his injury and not rush him back for Game 2, knowing they had some margin for error after already taking home-court advantage from the Celtics.
That idea ultimately didn’t hold water. Embiid – who was named the NBA MVP on Tuesday night – returned for Wednesday night’s Game 2. It came as somewhat of a surprise. Embiid, who suffered a sprained LCL in his right knee during Game 3 of the Sixers’ first-round sweep of the Nets, had not even resumed running as of Monday, according to coach Doc Rivers. The center was listed as doubtful on Tuesday.
But even with a 1-0 series lead in hand, Embiid was back.
“It’s logical thinking,” Rivers said of the idea of giving him some extra rest. “But players, when they’re healthy, they should play. And when they’re not, they shouldn’t play. That would be my answer. So I can guarantee you if Joel’s playing he’s healthy. If he’s not – I don’t get involved in it a lot, honestly. I leave that up to smarter people than me to decide. But we’re not going to risk him for anything.”
According to The Athletic, shortly after accepting the MVP award on Tuesday, Embiid turned around to his teammates during the celebration and told them, “I’m back.”
Embiid seemed to turn a corner on Tuesday. Was Rivers surprised he would suit up?
“I don’t know if I’ll be surprised,” Rivers said. “I’ve gone back and forth on it, just watching him move. If you had asked me two days ago, yeah, I’d say tonight, I’d be pleasantly surprised. But watching him move the last couple of days, if he plays, I like how he’s moving.
The Celtics missed a prime opportunity while Embiid recovered from the injury. By blowing Game 5 last week against the Hawks, the start of the second round was pushed back two days. If they had held on, Game 1 against the Sixers would have been Saturday, with Game 2 on Monday. Then they blew their one chance against the non-Embiid Sixers, letting James Harden score 45 points in a stunning Game 1 win for Philadelphia on Monday.
The Celtics were prepared for Embiid’s return, and even expected it.
“It impacts everything, to be honest,” Malcolm Brogdon said. “It’s a different style of play that we have to play defensively because they have a dominant scorer on the floor – the MVP of the league. He’s an incredible scorer, so you’ve got to take that serious, you’ve got to change the way you play, you gotta help. It’s not a one-man job to defend him. So it’ll be a team effort.”
Marcus Smart was listed as questionable for Game 2 due to a chest contusion, but he was feeling good enough to play. The point guard said he initially hurt his chest after a fall during the Atlanta series, and re-aggravated it in Game 1 with a few shots to it.
“Feeling OK. Better than I was (Tuesday),” Smart said. “I was hurting really bad, but it started with the fall in Atlanta. Kind of bruised my sternum, rib cage area, the way that I landed. So it’s just a lot of pressure on me, breathing, things like that. Then yesterday I took a couple hits directly into the spot, one right after the other caused more trauma to it. Some more swelling in my sternum, more bruising obviously, but just like a bone bruise.
“There’s really nothing I can do. I have to take my anti-inflammatory and hopefully that helps, and put some padding there and see how it goes.”
There was a point early in the season when Jayson Tatum was viewed as the MVP frontrunner, but the Celtics star’s hopes of winning the award faded during the second half of the season. Still, Tatum finished fourth in MVP voting, the highest he’s finished in his career. He earned one third-place vote, 89 fourth-place votes and eight fifth-place votes, finishing behind Embiid, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetekounmpo.
Tatum’s numbers dipped after the All-Star break as the Celtics lost the No. 1 seed in the East, leading him to falling out of the MVP race.
Embiid led the NBA in scoring at 33.1 points per game while remaining dominant defensively. His counterparts on the Celtics thought the 76ers star was worthy of being named MVP after finishing second each of the previous two seasons.
“He deserved it. It was really that simple,” Brogdon said. “He’s had an incredible season, he’s an incredible player. He deserved it.”
The NBA acknowledged three missed calls in the final two minutes of Game 1, according to the league’s Last Two Minute Report, including one that led to a big momentum shift in favor of the 76ers.
The Celtics led by four with 1:48 to play when the league said Harden should have been whistled for a foul after tripping Tatum on his drive to the basket. With Tatum on the ground, the Sixers then took full advantage of a 5-on-4 transition opportunity as Tyrese Maxey completed a three-point play to cut Boston’s lead to one with 1:37 to go. It was effectively a five-point swing.
The other two missed calls were a pair of defensive three-second violations on Paul Reed with 1:56 left, then Tatum with 39 seconds to go. …
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens finished fifth in NBA Executive of the Year voting on Wednesday. Sacramento’s Monty McNair won the award.