Gordon Hayward has conditioning on his side in return

The silver lining behind Gordon Hayward’s broken left hand was that it didn’t get in the way of the Celtics forward’s conditioning.

After missing 30 days to the injury, he returned for Monday night’s game against Cleveland with relatively sound legs — something that only actual basketball could improve. And as it turned out Hayward’s conditioning work had a peripheral benefit — on the coaches who trained with him.

“Even before he could catch, they were doing 5-on-0 with an imaginary ball running up and down the court,” said Brad Stevens. “So they were acting like they were throwing the ball around. So they were moving and getting up and down. And so that’s been great conditioning, and for our coaching staff. And we’re all better for it. Sometimes there’s a silver lining for all the rest of us to get fed so well.”

Hayward didn’t start the night with a minutes restriction, nor was a scripted usage plan a concern. His wind was going to be indication enough.

“We’ll manage that appropriately. There’s no set time, but any time that you’re coming back and not having played an NBA game in four weeks — as you could imagine, you just manage it appropriately,” said Stevens. “He’s done a good job of staying in shape and he’s worked hard at that. But it will still hit him early.

“We’re not going to play him 38 (minutes) tonight by any means but you just have to be alert to that,” said Stevens. “But we will try to get him so that it also gets stretched a little bit, just to get back in it. But I’m not too concerned about that right now. I mean, I think he’ll be fine. He’ll be breathing heavy at the first media timeout but after that he should be good to go.”

Hayward started in a particularly small first five unit, with Marcus Smart missing the game due to an eye infection.

He took the floor with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker and Daniel Theis. Hayward’s success prior to the injury considered, no one expected there to be much of a reacquaintance period.

“He’s one of our leaders. His personality (is important) for sure,” said Walker. “He’s very positive and we need that. The more veteran leaders you have, the more eyes you have out there, the more opinions, it’s just better. He’s one of our main guys, and we’ve been missing him. We were playing really well when he was playing, and hopefully we can get that back. It’s just really good to get him back.”

Pause to remember

The team, thanks to the generosity of season ticket holders, sponsored its annual Seats for Soldiers night, and also held a moment of silence for Pete Frates — the former Boston College baseball player and tireless advocate for ALS research who created the viral Ice Bucket Challenge.

Frates died Monday after an seven-year battle with the disease.

“Tonight’s obviously meaningful for Boston with Pete Frates’ passing. It’s a reason for us to be motivated to play well,” said Stevens, himself an Ice Bucket Challenge veteran. “There’s so many great nights and events here where we celebrate all these great causes around the city, but certainly Seats for Soldiers night is at the very top of the list. Great to see all of our soldiers here, every year it’s meaningful.”

Hip check

Rob Williams missed last night’s game with a flare-up of a hip issue that bothered the Celtics center last month.

“From what I’ve been told it’s a sore hip related to what he had earlier in the season,” said Stevens. “They’ll continue to monitor that and do some testing on him.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/347g7B0