Philadelphia 76ers: Did Gordon Hayward’s ankle just save the season?

Did Gordan Hayward’s injury open the doors for a Philadelphia 76ers run?

When Ben Simmons went down with a season-ending injury against the Washington Wizards, it put a serious damper on the Philadelphia 76ers‘ playoff hopes.

Yes, technically, the team was already a postseason lock, and Wizards fans can at least hold their heads up knowing that their favorite team had some impact on the postseason for a change, but winning a title, with this lineup? Sans their supersized sometimes point guard sometimes power forward? Yeah, that’s a tough one to envision for even the most optimistic Sixers fan.

And hey, what do you know, when Brett Brown’s squad finally did take the court against the Boston Celtics in the first round, it brought back uncomfortable flashbacks to the 2018 Eastern Conference semi-finals that sealed the Sixers’ fate and sent us on this brutal string of trades, trades, and free agent flubs.

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The offense was disjointed, Joel Embiid just couldn’t seem to get good looks in the paint, whether due to ineffective passing or even worse schematic choices, and the team committed two games worth of turnovers to neutralize a 46-42 shooting percentage advantage from the field.

If you thought all was lost, the season was over, and an ugly offseason with no cap space was inching ever closer like the monster in ‘It Follows’ you’d be forgiven, but you know what they say in all things, especially the NBA: It’s not over until it’s over.

Sure, the Sixers lost the battle, but on an otherwise routine rebound, they may have won the war in the form of a Grade 3 right ankle sprain by on Gordan Hayward.

And just like that, Philly has a chance.

With Hayward out for the next four weeks, Brad Stevens will have to shake up his starting five ever so slightly, presumably giving the nod to Marcus Smart at shooting guard, which will correspondingly kick Jaylen Brown to small forward and Jayson Tatum to the four spot. Factor in Kemba Walker running the point and third-year German center Daniel Theis and Boston’s offense should be as potent as ever, but when Ainge has to turn his attention to the bench, that, my friends, is where things could start to fall apart.

You see, in Game 1, the Celts relied on their starting lineup plus Smart for 207 of their 240 total minutes, with only two reserves, Brad Wanamaker and Robert Williams just barely cracking double-digit minutes. Even if all five of the team’s Game 2 starters play 40 minutes, which is fairly unlikely, the Celtics are going to have to replace 40 minutes of action with players who couldn’t crack the initial rotation in any sort of substantive capacity.

It becomes easier to guard the Celtics’ starting five with two non-scorers on the court in Smart and Theis. It becomes easier to pummel Walker with bigger guards like, well, all of the Sixers guards when you know Smart isn’t coming off the bench to punch back when he needs a break.

Heck, Hayward’s absence may even open the door for playoff Enes Kanter, who you might recall only lasted eight minutes in Game 1 before being exiled to the bench once and for all for the rest of the evening.

Look, I hope Gordon Hayward has a full recovery, I really do. That brutal injury he suffered a few years back on opening night is one of the most ghastly dislocations I’ve ever seen, and the fact that he’s back on an NBA court not two years later is a real triumph of the human spirit. With that being said, if he has to sit out the Boston Celtics’ series against the Philadelphia 76ers, who am I to protest? Health comes first, and if that just so happens to also give my favorite basketball team a puncher’s chance at making it out of the first round, then that, my friends, is just a fortunate byproduct.