Philadelphia 76ers have better odds with Gordon Hayward out
The Philadelphia 76ers’ chances to win in the first round has improved better.
The Philadelphia 76ers are in a tough playoff series against their long time rivals the Boston Celtics. It doesn’t help the Sixers that they’re struggling with poor roster construction and playing without All-Star playmaker Ben Simmons. However, their chances of coming out of the series with a win just improved.
In Game 1, Celtics forward Gordon Hayward went down in the game with an ankle injury. According to the Boston Celtics official Twitter page, Hayward is expected to miss around four weeks.
Hayward may not be the All-Star he once was, but to think that he’s not important to the Celtics would be foolish. This injury is big for the Celtics and will have an impact on this series moving forward.
The impact.
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The Celtics have lost a guy who averaged 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists, while converting 38.3 percent from deep this season. He had 12 points before getting injured in Game 1. He’s fourth in scoring for Boston on the season, third in rebounding, and third in assists. Replacing that type of production won’t be easy for Boston.
Another problem that the Celtics have is that like the Sixers their roster talent is top-end heavy and so they don’t have much depth. Guard Marcus Smart and center Enes Kanter are the only to proven bench players Boston has. Smart is a good defender but inefficient offensively and Kanter is good offensively but struggles defensively.
One would think that Smart would replace Hayward in the starting five, but the would severally hurt the Celtic’s guard rotation off the bench. Only Brad Wannamaker is the only other guard that has been getting regular minutes off the bench this year but he’s not someone who can be relied upon for heavy minutes.
Next. 3 takeaways from Game 1 defeat. dark
Having a player of Hayward’s caliber out makes the Philadelphia 76ers’ job on defense a lot easier. The Celtics depth is hurt by this injury as well which is a big help for the Sixers. Game 2 should reveal just how big of an impact Hayward’s absence will be.