5 ways Philadelphia 76ers Markelle Fultz impacts Boston series

2 of 6

BOSTON – JANUARY 18: Boston Celtics’ Shane Larkin falls to the floor as he battles 76ers’ Dario Saric for a loose ball in the fourth quarter. The Boston Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers in a regular season NBA basketball game at TD Garden in Boston on Jan. 18, 2018. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /

Impact I – Fast tempo to exhaust the Celtics

The Boston Celtics are running on fumes after that grueling seven game series against the Milwaukee Bucks. And they haven’t the benefit of either Gordon Hayward nor Kyrie Irving to pull them out of a hole. So the Celtics must rely upon point guard Terry Rozier to start, and rotate in guard Shane Larkin to pick up reserve minutes. Marcus Smart has been injured, so while he is the first in, the Celtics would be foolish to punish Smart with all the minutes.

And Fultz can outplay Larkin.

Burn through those Celtics minutes

Shane Larkin has played four NBA seasons for four different NBA teams. He absorbs minutes. While he does so, he’s not particularly effective offensively and not particularly effective defensively. So that can be a vulnerability to expose on the Celtics team.

The challenge is that the team cannot aim at Larkin with starters, as that pushes their minutes too high to remain effective. But Markelle Fultz off the bench is the perfect answer. Turn him loose and let him get playoff experience. If he significantly outplays Larkin, that will force the Celtics to squelch those minutes. If he doesn’t, he gets solid minutes to build on. In either case, it distributes playing minutes and allows the Philadelphia 76ers to keep the throttle on in this series.