Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward has been ruled out against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday after colliding with Atlanta Hawks power forward John Collins as the latter tried to set a screen late in the first quarter of Saturday’s victory. Celtics center Al Horford has been listed as probable, as he continues to nurse a sore left knee.
Per the NBA’s Concussion Protocol, players can only be cleared to return to action once they’ve passed a battery of tests without displaying any concussion symptoms.
Hayward left Saturday’s game immediately after colliding with Collins, heading to locker room and was ruled out quickly with a strained neck. Following the game, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens would state that Hayward felt “pretty woozy from that hit” (per NBC Sports Boston‘s Chris Forsberg), prompting the coach to send him home before the end of the game:
“Sent him home after halftime,” said Stevens. “I talked with him at halftime, obviously pretty woozy from that hit. So I don’t have any update on him. But you could see right away that it was quite a hit.”
Hayward has averaged 10.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 0.9 steals in 25.4 minutes per game this season, while shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 33.5 percent from three-point range. However, Hayward has been an improved version of himself in March, with averages of 12.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 0.7 steals in 24.2 minutes per game while shooting 57.9 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from deep prior to Saturday’s game against Atlanta.
His absence was indeed noticeable against the Denver Nuggets, a game that they lost (114-105) in no small part because they shot 41.9 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from three-point range. Further, no player in their second unit tallied more than seven points.
As Celtics president and general manager Danny Ainge would tell the Boston Herald‘s Steve Bulpett, “[Boston] could have used Gordon [Hayward[ out there, because there were some open shots to be made.”
“[Monday] night we just needed to make some shots in some key moments. Like, there’s two or three stretches where Denver made a couple of outside shots and we missed a couple of lay-ins. I don’t think it’s anything disastrous; I just think we need to keep working to get consistent. And we could have used Gordon [Hayward] out there, because there were some open shots to be made.”
Against the Sixers, a team with a formidable starting lineup and arguably as much talent as the Celtics, Hayward would be just as useful as he could have been against a mighty Denver Nuggets team. Though he’s had a relatively underwhelming season, his return (along with that of superstar point guard Kyrie Irving’s) was what was seen as what would take Boston over-the-top and give them a chance to take down the upper echelon teams.
That hasn’t changed.
Fortunately for Boston, they’ll have Horford, who isn’t just a defensive anchor and a key offensive player but matches up well against Philadelphia’s All-Star center: 7-foot-0, 250 pound Joel Embiid.
Embiid has averaged 27.3 points, 13.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 blocks per game this season while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 29.0 percent from three-point range.
However, though Embiid has been successful against Boston this season (3 games) with averages 26.7 points, 13.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 blocks per game, he’s only shot 46.7 percent from the field when he faces the Celtics. He’s shot 43.5 percent against Horford and the Celtics in his three-year career and last season, Embiid only managed to average 17.3 points per game while shooting 38.5 percent from the field and 8.3 percent from three-point range.
While slowing down Embiid won’t guarantee a victory for Boston with the 76ers having so many other All-Star caliber players at their disposal, it’ll certainly make it easier to outpace Philadelphia.
Tip-off between the Celtics and Sixers is scheduled for shortly after 7:00 P.M.
