Joel Embiid thinks he can still make a difference against the Celtics. If so, bet the Sixers.

BOSTON — The only thing certain was the uncertainty. Joel Embiid sounded genuine about that. There were moments on Wednesday morning when the NBA’s newest MVP sounded as if his status for Game 2 was far more favorable than the “possibility” that he labeled it. There were also moments when he sounded as if a couple of more days of rest would do a world of good. Not just for his sprained right knee, but also for his confidence in it.

Still, what little there was to read between the lines was positive enough that it suddenly feels that the Sixers have a very strong chance at pulling this thing off. That wasn’t the case a couple of days ago, when Embiid was officially ruled out for Game 1 and the Celtics spent the first half looking like they couldn’t possibly be stopped. But things have changed. A lot of that has to do with the wild 119-115 win the Sixers somehow managed to pull out on Monday. But it also has to do with the work that Embiid has put in over the past couple of days, and the words he used when characterizing his status.

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In his first public comments since hitting the shelf with a sprained lateral collateral ligament before Game 4 of the Sixers’ first-round sweep of the Nets, Embiid indicated that he is closer to a return than he and the team initially thought when he injured himself two weeks ago.

The big man was on the court during the team’s shootaround on Wednesday morning and has spent the last couple of days testing out the knee while running up and down the court. That’s a crucial step, one that led Embiid to label it a “possibility” that he will suit up tonight in Game 2. Although he sounded less than confident that it would actually play out that way, the big man sounded an encouraging note when he was asked if he thought he could make a difference at some point in the series.

“At some point, I’ll come back and add what I can,” Embiid said. “Obviously, be as 100% as I can be. But I’m sure I can make a difference. I’m just going to have to figure out where I can help. And that’s going to be the easy part, because we know how to play with each other, with or without me. It’s going to be easy to get back into it. And then for myself, you just have to let the game come to me, whenever I come back. I haven’t really done anything the last two weeks. So I think the biggest key for me is not pushing anything and just let the game come to me.”

Clearly, the Sixers shouldn’t be expecting Embiid to come back and be the player who averaged 33.1 points in 34.6 minutes per game en route to winning the first Most Valuable Player trophy of his career. But it won’t take anything close to 100% of his usual abilities for Embiid to make a big enough impact to turn the tide of the series in the Sixers’ favor.

James Harden’s epic 45-point performance in Game 1 was a revelation in a lot of ways. Not only did the Sixers manage to win a game on a night when the Celtics shot 75% from the field in the first half, they did it on a night when Tyrese Maxey shot just 10-for-24 from the field and 2-for-9 from three-point range. Heading into this series, it was very much an open question whether Harden still had the ability to carry the scoring load the way he did during his peak years with the Rockets. The 33-year-old veteran put a lot of those doubts to rest by going 17-for-30 from the field and 7-for-14 from three-point range and hitting a go-ahead three-pointer with nine seconds left.

He might not be that player every night, but the Sixers only need it in three out of the next six games in order to advance to their first Eastern Conference finals of the post-Process era. If they can get two more of those nights from Harden and one from Maxey, or vice versa, they may not need Embiid to be anything more than a Marc Gasol-type defensive specialist who focuses his energy on protecting the rim.

As for tonight?

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“It’s a possibility, just like it was a possibility in the first game,” Embiid said. “But I’m going to listen to those guys and see what they have to say, the doctors. Obviously, I want to play. Anybody who knows me, I just love being on the court and I love to play. So there’s a possibility, if I got the green light, then I’m going to go ahead. We’re just going to talk about it. But I feel pretty good. Just like I felt about the game last game, I felt that we had a huge opportunity and we were going to win. Tonight, whether I play or not, I believe in those guys. Anything can happen, and I think we have a huge chance to win the game.”

Stay tuned.