The Boston Celtics may have beaten the Philadelphia 76ers 109-101 in game one of the 2020 NBA Playoffs on Monday, but in the process, they had a significant injury. Forward Gordon Hayward sprained his ankle, and will be out for a month.
In 52 games, Hayward was averaging 17.5 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, and 4.1 assists per game. At the time of the injury on Monday, Hayward had 12 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
The loss of Hayward is significant because the Celtics heavily rely on him in addition to Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, and Marcus Smart. All five saw a minimum of 32 minutes of action in game one, with Tatum leading the way with 41 minutes.
In any case, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens will have to rejuggle his lineup and have players play positions that may be a little outside their comfort zone. Expect Tatum to slide over from small forward to power forward, and Brown from shooting guard to small forward. One will also expect to see Smart get the start at shooting guard.
One must also realize that the Celtics do not have the bench depth like the Milwaukee Bucks or Toronto Raptors do. Now with the loss of Hayward, that could be exploited by the Philadelphia 76ers as their first round playoff series progresses.
Last season the Celtics breezed by the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the playoffs, and then were beaten in five games by the Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. In 2020, the Celtics are now the third seed. They will avoid playing the Bucks until the Eastern Conference Final. It should be noted that the Celtics beat the second-place Raptors three out of four times this season, including a convincing 122-100 win on August 7 inside the Orlando bubble.
