The Philadelphia 76ers‘ official injury report for Game 2 of their first-round matchup with the Boston Celtics is identical to their report for the first game of the series.
It includes the expected absence of star center Joel Embiid, who has been ruled out of the game as he continues to recover from an emergency appendectomy. It remains to be seen when, and if, Embiid will be able to return to the court during the postseason, though he has started the process of working his way back.
Joel Embiid is Only Player Listed on Philadelphia 76ers’ Game 2 Injury Report
Outside of Embiid though, everyone else is good to go for Philly. As he was for the first game, Tyrese Maxey (right finger tendon sprain) is specifically listed as available on the report.
Meanwhile, Ron Harper Jr. (probable, right ankle sprain) is the only player listed on the injury report for Boston. After missing a key contributor in Jayson Tatum for the majority of the regular season, the Celtics are now fully healthy at the exact right time. Sometimes, that’s exactly what it takes in the NBA playoffs, which can often be a war of attrition.
But for Philadelphia, nothing will be different from the first game when it comes to personnel, though the Sixers have to hope that things are different results-wise, because they were completely outclassed in Game 1 – something head coach Nick Nurse acknowledged immediately after the game.
“A lot went wrong, that’s for sure,” Nurse said. “It kind of started right in the beginning with not getting off to a great start offensively, getting into some foul trouble with both bigs. The first quarter was obviously moving past us pretty (quickly) and we just didn’t do enough at either end to settle into the game.
“I thought from the second quarter until the middle of the third, we finally … played pretty good basketball. But the minutes around that were absolutely unacceptable.”
Nick Nurse Identifies Areas of Improvement for 76ers in Game 2
The good news for Sixers fans is that Nurse did see avenues to improvement in Game 1’s wreckage. Mainly, he thinks the Sixers need to be better in transition, from beyond the arc and in the turnover department.
“We certainly can’t give up that much in transition. That’s a big one,” Nurse said.
“We’ve got to take care of the ball better. Too many turnovers that were live-ball and led to some of that transition. And I think we’ve got to generate more threes against this team. We’ve got to generate ‘em, we’ve got to take ‘em, and obviously we’ve got to make some, which I’m sure we will.”
Identifying areas of improvement is one thing, but addressing them and actually improving upon them is another. Nurse and the Sixers will be tasked with doing the latter in Game 2. If they’re able to, perhaps they’ll be able to steal one in enemy territory. If not, then the second game of the series will probably look a lot like the first game.
Philadelphia 76ers Injury Report For Game 2 vs. Celtics: Joel Embiid Remains Sidelined