The Boston Celtics evened its series up against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in Game 2 behind a dominant effort.
The Celtics won 121-87 in Game 2, setting up a pivotal Game 3 with the series tied at one game a piece. While the Sixers were hoping that MVP winner Joel Embiid would provide a boost to the roster in a return from an LCL sprain, he wasn’t able to, scoring 15 points in 27 minutes.
With a quick turn around, can the Sixers get back on track, or are the Celtics going to realize its fate as the heavy favorites in this series and regain control on the road.
Before we get to our best bet, let’s check out the odds:
Celtics vs. Sixers odds, spread and total
Celtics vs. Sixers prediction and pick
Embiid’s defense around the rim was solid in Game 2, he recorded five blocks in limited time, but he severely hampered the offense with his inability to move up and down the court quickly. The Sixers weren’t a threat in transition and they couldn’t get into its offense quickly with the big man lumbering up and down the court. That allowed Boston’s versatile defense to get set and shut down the Sixers offense all together.
While the Sixers got a monster performance from James Harden, he hit on only two his 14 shots in Game 2 and missed all six of his three-point looks. Boston has the length to challenge Harden, and Embiid’s impact on the offensive end is going to continue to be limited with his knee injury. Overall, the Sixers shot 20% from beyond the arc after hitting on 44% of them in Game 1.
Meanwhile, the Celtics cleaned up its turnover issue that plagued them in Game 1, lowering its count from 16 on Monday night to six in Game 2. It was simply a more locked in Celtics team that had little issue throttling the Sixers.
Embiid rushing back from injury may give an emotional lift, but he is far from healthy and it’s going to hamper the Sixers ability to run sound offense with his prodding style and compromised knee.
The Celtics are the better team, who are capable of boat racing this Sixers team again if they remain locked in. With a short spread, I’ll happily take Boston to remain engaged and win this one going away.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.