POST GAME CLEVELAND - AWAY - OPENING NIGHT 2017-2018

Cavaliers 102, Celtics 99: Tough to care about loss after losing Gordon Hayward

WEEI Ty Anderson

October 17, 2017 - 11:00 pm

The Celtics hung around for all four quarters of a 102-99 loss to the Cavaliers, but they were really at Quicken Loans Arena for just five minutes and 15 seconds in the first half.

And you can’t blame them for mentally checking out earlier than one already does when stopping in Cleveland.

It was at that moment, with the Celtics holding a lead and finding their offensive groove, that Gordon Hayward, a player believed to be a focal point of the Celtic offense this year given his familiarity with head coach Brad Stevens dating back to their days at Butler, fell down, and with his ankle bent in a way that no body part should be bent.

The expression on their faces said it all.

As Hayward writhed in agony on the floor, Jaylen Brown’s hands were on his head. A wide-eyed Al Horford shook his head in disbelief and talked with some Cavaliers, as if he was looking for the exact answer as to what just happened, or that he simply didn't believe what he saw. Kyrie Irving, the player that attempted the lob pass on the play that injured Hayward, needed to be consoled.

Even Jae Crowder, who voiced his displeasure with Boston fans cheering Hayward when he visited TD Garden as a member of the Jazz last season and part of the five-piece package sent to Cleveland in exchange for Irving in August, couldn’t bear to watch what was transpiring and wandered off to the sideline with a grimace.

“It was definitely tough just seeing that happen," Jayson Tatum said. "It was tough on all of us. You never want to see anything like that happen to anybody, especially to one of your guys."

It played out to a ghost-sighting Celtic first half that saw them miss their first 10 three-point attempts and the Cavaliers by all means cruise to a 54-38 edge.

But as the Celtics regained color in their face and their heads stopped shaking, knowing that can’t change Hayward’s situation, their third quarter was their best.

With Irving on the bench, Marcus Smart, whose days of overindulgence are long over, evident by his 20-pound drop, feasted on the Cavs’ Kyle Korver, with 12 points in the quarter. And while the quarter would end with the Celtics holding a lead for all of three seconds thanks to a Derrick Rose buzzer-beating three, their comeback push came with the heart that Brad Stevens clearly did not lose in a summer of massive turnover.

The fourth featured more of the same, this time from the C’s promising tandem of Brown (a career-high 25 points in the loss) and first-year pro Tatum (14 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes), while Irving converted some key makes.

In the end, however, it was not enough to stop LeBron and the Cavs’ best.

In a game that was almost the C’s for the taking, I’d be lying if I said that the Celtics’ comeback efforts were consistently met with a Crowder-like grimace. Every shot made was worth a cheer, but it always came with a realization that the 27-year-old Hayward’s fractured ankle still happened (a visual that I don’t think anybody’s going to forget), and that he was not coming back any time soon. It was tough to actually care about this game and think it had any meaning without the Celtics’ biggest addition on a stretcher.

In a game that already lacked buzz in the sense of this being a ‘true test’ thanks to the absence of Celtic-turned-Cavalier Isaiah Thomas, who is still recovering from his hip injury (and joined the injured Hayward in the locker room for support as a friend and one-time teammate), Hayward’s injury was a $128 million, championship-contending wet blanket.

It was a downright gross feeling.

It was like watching the Bruins try to beat the Flyers after Patrice Bergeron nearly broke his neck in 2007. It was like watching the Patriots try to beat the Chiefs when Tom Brady torn his ACL in Week 1 in 2008. It was watching any Rob Gronkowski injury times 10.

Teams don’t recover from watching their teammate go down like this on the same night. The Celtics came close, which earns them a pat on the back, which is the best you can do in a loss, but it doesn’t make you feel any better about their situation.

And it certainly won’t make Hayward’s recovery any easier.


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CSNNE

A. Sherrod Blakley

CLEVELAND – Adversity has been a given with the Boston Celtics, so why would the season opener be any different?

Despite being without their prized free agent signing in the offseason for all but the first five minutes against Cleveland, the Celtics gave themselves a chance to win down the stretch only to come up short in a 102-99 loss.

Boston led in the fourth only for LeBron James to score a go-ahead basket to make it 99-98 and then force a Celtics turnover seconds later.

Following a time-out with 1:04 to play, Kevin Love hit a 3-pointer with 46.3 seconds to play to make it a 102-98 game.

The loss certainly hurts, but that pales in comparison to what losing Gordon Hayward for most if not all of this season, means to the Celtics after Hayward went down with fractured left ankle injury in the first quarter.

With the Celtics ahead 12-9, Kyrie Irving saw Hayward sprinting towards the rim and threw him an alley-oop pass.

LeBron James slid over and leaped to try and deflect it, which threw Hayward off balance in mid-air.

But Hayward didn’t land cleanly because ex-Celtic Jae Crowder, who was defending him on the play, made contact with Hayward’s lower body that resulted in an awkward landing for Hayward.

Video replays showed how contorted Hayward’s left ankle was, the kind of gruesome image that was in some ways reminiscent to the knee injury that derailed the career of Shaun Livingston.

While Livingston eventually returned to the floor and won a pair of NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors, but he was never the same player afterwards.

It’s far too soon to say exactly how Hayward’s injury will impact him this season, let alone for his career.

But there is no mistaking seeing him go down the way he did, clearly rattled the Celtics and for that matter, the NBA family.

Current and former NBA players took to social media offering of prayers of healing for Hayward, who was named to his first NBA All-Star team last season and signed a four-year, $127.8 million contract with the Celtics this summer.

As for the actual game, the Cavaliers steadily pulled away in the second quarter and remained in control for most of the second half in a victory that certainly had to feel a bit shallow.

It wasn’t because the Celtics were undermanned without Hayward, but more important, because he’s part of the NBA family and regardless of how competitive players are, they never, ever like to see one of their own go down with such a devastating injury.

Moments after Hayward went down, the looks of disappointment and pain were apparent. Inside the Celtics huddle, you saw Kyrie Irving’s head in the shoulder of a teammate.

Former Celtic Isaiah Thomas, now with the Cavs, was inside the Cavaliers locker room which is where they took Hayward initially.

When Thomas left, he nodded, and shook his head, saddened by what he saw in the locker room.

Despite the pain that all the Celtics were in following Hayward’s injury, there was still a game that had to be played.

And anything less than their best against the defending Eastern Conference champions, would make for a long night.

But the Celtics showed a resiliency in the third quarter that saw them climb back into things and made it a relatively close game.

Trailing 54-38 at the half, Boston tied the game at 69 following a Marcus Smart free throw, followed by a go-ahead basket by Smart that put Boston on top 71-69.

However, the Cavs ended the quarter with a 3-pointer by Derrick Rose which put them ahead 72-71 going into the fourth, an envious position for the Celtics all things considered.

Even if the Celtics had been whole with Hayward, defeating the Cavs was going to be an extremely tall task.

They have after all, been to the NBA Finals each of the last three seasons and are the odds-on favorite to get back there for a fourth straight year.

But the Celtics lost more than a key player when Hayward went down.

They lost their focus, that intangible edge to their team that was supposed to be one of their strengths against a Cleveland team that has plenty of firepower and weapons of its own.

The good news for both teams is that regardless of who came out on top, there are lessons to be learned for both teams.

Unfortunately for the Celtics, those lessons going forward are likely to come about without Hayward in the lineup for some time.

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TO ALL CELTIC FANS...................DON'T WORRY.............THE CELTICS ARE GOING TO BE REALLY GOOD DESPITE THE HAYWARD INJURY!

COUPLE OF TOUGH BREAKS AND WE HAD THIS GAME DESPITE PLAYING WITHOUT MORRIS AND OBVIOUSLY HAYWOOD.

THE CELTICS WILL FIND A WAY.  I LOVE WHAT I SAW TONIGHT......TATUM AND BROWN WILL BE A DANGEROUS PAIR ON THE FLOOR TOGETHER.

ONLY GRIPE TONIGHT.......SHOULD HAVE GONE TO TATUM LATE IN THE GAME TO SEE WHAT THE KID HAS UNDER PRESSURE.

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Jaylen can play.
Tatum can play.
Marcus, Kyrie, and Al can play. We'll be stronger by May.

Worcester............Spot on!

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The Hayward injury opens the door for Tatum to remain in the starting lineup.  Getting a double double in his first game was impressive.

The young guys will really need to step up.  I think we may need another scorer off the bench.

Gutsy performance by this team.  

Dboss

Next man up.  It's a long season, maybe Tatum gets so many minutes that he truly gets ROY.  

Take away the horrific injury, there was a lot to like.  Baynes was in the middle of some scrums, nice to see him mix it up in the paint.  Brown must have the green light, he took a ton of shots to get his points.  Tatum had a nice second half.  Kyrie came back nicely after the post injury emotions.

There's no rest for these guys, the second night of a back-to-back is coming up tonight, home opener at that.

Go Celtics!!!

gyso

gyso wrote:Next man up.  It's a long season, maybe Tatum gets so many minutes that he truly gets ROY.  

Take away the horrific injury, there was a lot to like.  Baynes was in the middle of some scrums, nice to see him mix it up in the paint.  Brown must have the green light, he took a ton of shots to get his points.  Tatum had a nice second half.  Kyrie came back nicely after the post injury emotions.

There's no rest for these guys, the second night of a back-to-back is coming up tonight, home opener at that.

Go Celtics!!!

gyso

gyso

I was thinking the same thing. As a starter or major player, Tatum has a shot at ROY.

This team settled down in the 2nd half and was running Cleveland off the court.

When Morris returns the Celtics will still have a pretty good lineup: Irving, Brown, Tatum, Morris and Horford. The rotation must compete and since most of the rotation is new we cannot really know how good they are. Marcus, Terry and Baynes are the main guys. The rest of the group are question marks. Look for Boston to activate Bird asap.

Love the way Baynes was banging everyone and that came to the rim.

dboss