Celtics Host Sixers: Highlights, Score and recap from NBA Opening Night Win

Depth:

These Celtics are unbelievably, unfairly, and stupidly deep. The C’s survived Kyrie Irving’s worst night as a Celtic, and still ran away with a game against a conference and division rival.

The Celtics had five players in double figures for the night, and had 21 total assists. No one on the Celtics roster tallied 30 minutes on the game. There should be very few fatigue-related issues this season as Brad Stevens has an embarrassment of riches to play with.

Gordon Hayward’s Opening Night Demons Exercised:

Celtics fans, you may now exhale; Gordon Hayward has now survived his first full game as a Celtic. The All-Star forward looked a little nervous during his re-debut, but found his rhythm in the offense scoring 10 points in his 24 minutes of playing time.

Hayward showed the smoothness and ease with which he navigates the pick-and-roll, and should be a fantastic release valve for the Celtics offense throughout the year. He showcased both his ability to hit pull up jump shots off the dribble and to deftly navigate off-ball screens.

Though Hayward lost the ball a few times, missed a couple easy shots, and appeared a step slow, he also seemed light years beyond what he looked like in preseason. Hayward’s cardiovascular endurance has clearly continued to improve, as well as his feel for the game.

Somewhat surprisingly, Hayward looked most comfortable on the defensive end, racking up four steals by reading passing lanes. He also fought hard on switches against Joel Embiid and Dario Saric.

Hayward started the game, but not the second half, in order to save his minutes for the end of game if need be. The Celtics forward is currently on a 25-minute limit as he works his way forward in recovery from last year’s Opening Nightmare.