Gordon Hayward has been out since Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs with an ankle injury. Hayward will rejoin the Celtics in the NBA bubble but his return to action will take some time. Ashley Landis/Pool Photo via the Associated Press
Two weeks ago, Gordon Hayward landed badly on Daniel Theis’ foot in Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers and suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain – a major injury, which the Boston Celtics projected would keep him out roughly four weeks.
According to Brad Stevens, speaking to the media via Zoom on Monday, Hayward’s recovery is progressing, but he still has several major obstacles to overcome, and his return to the bubble won’t be the end of this rehab.
“Rehab seems to be going okay,” Stevens said. “He feels a little bit better. I don’t think his gait is perfect yet. Once his gait feels right and becomes perfect, he’s probably on a quicker course to coming back. I think he’ll rejoin us in the bubble at some point soon, but he still will be some time away when he does do that.”
When Hayward went down, and after subsequent imaging showed he would miss significant time, few people expected his absence would play a major role against the Sixers.
After all, Philly was banged up and dysfunctional, while Boston spent most of its time in the bubble slicing through teams like sharp scissors and wrapping paper. With and without Hayward, the combination of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker was still a problem Philadelphia just didn’t have the personnel to solve.
Sweeping the Sixers is one thing. A 112-94 win over Toronto — the Celtics’ third blowout against the Raptors this season — feels more significant. The Celtics have found ways to make up for Hayward’s production, at least so far.
“Not one person is going to do what he does statistically what he does every night,” Stevens said after Sunday’s win. “We have to do it by committee. In the Philly series, Grant came off the bench and had big moments. Brad came off the bench, had big moments. Marcus was his normal self. Marcus today was unbelievable on both ends, and I thought Semi really filled that other spot well today. We need another body to throw at all these different guys, because they drive it so well, so we’re not trying to replace him with one person. We’re going to do our best to play to our strengths.”
Marcus Smart, who dropped in a team-high 21 points on Sunday, said Hayward’s absence is a big hit, but it does offer other players opportunities. Semi Ojeleye played more minutes on Sunday, and Grant Williams found his way onto the court. Romeo Langford played limited minutes on Sunday, but his defense helped the Celtics against Philly.
“Just picking up bits and pieces whether it’s scoring the ball, playing defense, doing those little things,” Smart said. “I got a lot of guys around me that are very good on the offensive end. My job is to make sure we stay very, very connected on the defensive end. That’s how, by me doing me, how I pick up the slack for Gordon and everybody else.”
Jayson Tatum added that while the Celtics are trying to make the best of Hayward’s absence without excuses, they are obviously better with Hayward on the floor.
“We know that, he knows that — how much he means to this team,” Tatum said. “I just think in this circumstance that we’ve just got to play the
THE CELTICS got a bit of a scare late in the first half of their Game 1 win over the Toronto Raptors when Kemba Walker and Pascal Siakam got tangled up and fell to the floor. Walker stayed down while the Celtics ran the ball up the other way, but after a timeout he was back on the floor and missed no actual game time.
“I think he got, when he got rolled up on in front of our bench, by the basket, he felt it,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said after the team’s Monday practice, which included Walker. ”He didn’t have any restrictions. He went through all of our 12-minute practice today and then should be good to go tomorrow.”
Twelve minute isn’t much of a practice, but it’s still a good sign that Walker participated. He finished the game with no issues, scoring 18 points and dishing 10 out assists for his first ever playoff double-double. However, there is always a risk of adrenaline carrying a player through a game and an injury stiffening up afterwards and overnight.
“Felt good (today), felt good actually,” Walker said. “Tweaked it a little bit, but it’s the nature of the game. It happens. For the moment, it bothered me a little bit, but my adrenaline was pumping, a little sore last night but I got some treatment. Doing everything I can to stay on top of it. I felt really good today actually. Hopefully I can continue to feel this way.”
This is yet another sign that Boston’s strengthening plan worked. Not only has Walker been able to play without any minutes restriction, his body’s ability to absorb a hit like this and recover quickly shows the supporting knee structure is strong.
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