BOSTON – The Boston Celtics felt that they left Game 1 of the second round slip out of their grasp Monday night. Two days have passed since that 119-115 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, and the bitterness hasn’t gone away.
For them, that's a good sign.
Bitterness can be bottled up and used as fuel, and Malcolm Brogdon says that he and his teammates plan to use that to their advantage for Game 2 Wednesday night.
“There’s a frustration, there’s an anger,” Brogdon said Wednesday morning of the team’s lingering emotions. “We felt like we were supposed to win that game. We feel like we’re supposed to win every game. That’s the reality of the type of basketball we played this season. So for us, [Game 2] is definitely about sending a message. It’s about coming out and playing our basketball.”
They’ll need to come out and send a message because Philadelphia could be receiving a significant boost in their rotation. After missing Game 1 with an LCL sprain, Joel Embiid plans to return to action Wednesday night, barring any setbacks.
Having the NBA’s MVP back in the mix would totally change the approach for both teams, and the Celtics are ready to make any adjustments.
“It impacts everything, to be honest,” Brogdon said of Embiid’s impending return. “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 seriously, you’ve got to change the way you play, and you gotta help. It’s not a one-man job to defend him. So it’ll be a team effort.”
The back-to-back league scoring champion isn’t the only offensive threat that Boston must deal with. They’ll also have to figure out how to better limit James Harden after the former MVP went off Monday night for a playoff career-high-tying 45 points.
Brogdon said that the C’s have to be more physical against Harden and do a better job of containing him from beyond the arc after he knocked down 7-of-14 from deep in Game 1.
“I think we’ll make in-game adjustments as far as which direction we're sending him, the bigs being more aggressive and not letting him get to those pull-up 3s,” said Brogdon. “He's a great player, he's gonna make adjustments as well. Doc (Rivers) is gonna make adjustments, but it's on us to really dictate how they're gonna play and the physicality of the game.”
The goal is to dictate the game right from the start. Brogdon said it’s imperative that the C’s control the first five minutes of both halves and if they can do that, the next task is to remain relentless and not let up.
“I think we’re such a good team sometimes that we get big leads, we get comfortable, and we let teams back in the game,” said Brogdon, “and that’s something, in the playoffs, that we have to be better at. We have to tighten up. And I think we will.”