The Celtics badly needed a victory in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal against the 76ers on Wednesday, and they delivered with a massive 121-87 blowout that evened the series at 1-1 despite Joel Embiid’s return.
Here are the takeaways.
1. The Celtics are undeniably frustrating sometimes. If they had simply beaten the Sixers when the NBA’s MVP couldn’t play due to his LCL sprain in Game 1, they would be heading back to Philadelphia with a commanding 2-0 lead instead of a 1-1 tie. All they needed to do was slam the door in the final minutes, or get a couple of stops against James Harden, or find Jaylen Brown a few times in the second and third quarters, or see a couple of 3-pointers fall from their role players (or, yes, get a couple of crucial calls down the stretch that the NBA admitted should have gone their way).