Part of the reason the Boston Celtics‘ run to the Eastern Conference Finals is so surprising is that Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are both on the sidelines with injuries. Neither guy is slated to return any time soon, so Boston has managed to come together around Al Horford and a bunch of young (but very talented) dudes to get to this point.
You can argue that Irving’s loss was much bigger for this postseason, as Hayward had been hurt all season and the Celtics had figured things out in his absence. But losing Hayward was still huge, which is usually the case when an All-Star’s season ends after five minutes.
There have been plenty of updates on how Hayward is progressing throughout the course of the season, with the latest one coming from the man himself. Hayward wrote a piece for his personal blog in which he said he’s gotten to a point that he’s starting to feel like an athlete again on his road to recovery.
I know everybody is curious about where things stand with my rehab. It’s all been going really well. I’m happy to report I’m feeling like an athlete again. I’ve been in Indianapolis for the last couple weeks making some really good progress. I leave the hotel every morning at about 9:30 am and don’t get back til about 6 pm. We do a lot of running mechanics, physical therapy, a lift of some sort, and then court work for another few hours. It’s a full day, every day. I’m definitely moving along as planned, and progressing really well.
Hayward suffered one of the more brutal injuries we’ve seen during Boston’s season opener against Cleveland, so while there’s nothing to indicate he’s going to return before the postseason ends, it’s good to see that he’s starting to feel the way he used to.
