Irving with C’s, may play tonight
NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving joined the Celtics for their flight to New York yesterday, with the very real possibility that the point guard could return to action for tonight’s game against Brooklyn.
Irving, who suffered a small fracture underneath his right eye during Wednesday’s win over the Lakers at the Garden, has been upgraded to questionable status for the game.
Irving absorbed an errant elbow from teammate Aron Baynes 1:10 into the Lakers game, missed the rest of the night, and was also kept out of Sunday’s win over Toronto — the Celtics’ 12th straight that matched their longest winning streak since the 2008-09 season.
Irving has been fitted for a protective mask, and it will be his second time playing with this kind of apparatus. He also wore a mask in 2012, after fracturing his jaw while playing for Cleveland.
Irving dodged further trouble when, after two days of observation, members of the Celtics medical staff determined that the star point guard hadn’t suffered a concussion.
If Irving plays against the Nets, the team will be back at full strength, minus, of course, Gordon Hayward, who is recovering from surgery to repair a broken left tibia suffered in the season opener.
Al Horford returned from concussion protocol Sunday after missing two games and couldn’t have been much better considering the circumstances. He scored 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting in the team’s win over Toronto.