Walker’s knee rehab program bears fruit
Celtics’ floor leader averaged 33 minutes per game in sweep
As important as the 24.3-point scoring average Kemba Walker put together during the Celtics’ fourgame first round sweep of Philadelphia is this: a 33.0 minutes average over four playoff games.
Though Walker was frustrated by the minutes restriction put in place by the Celtics training staff during the seeding round, here’s some early proof that the program designed to strengthen his balky left knee was the right idea.
“It’s been great. It’s been great. It’s not over,” said Walker. “I gotta stay on top of it. I’ve been doing a great job at just sticking with it. My training staff, they’ve given me a great plan to stick to, but the work’s not done. We won a series but we’re still looking forward to more tough ones. As far as the rehab, I gotta stay consistent.”
Honoring Kobe
Sunday would have been Kobe Bryant’s 42nd birthday, and in honor of his former workout partner, Jayson Tatum wore a purple armband during the game, and later showed up for his media zoom conference wearing a Kobe T-shirt.
It was, of course, a special day.
“Everybody knows it’s Kobe’s birthday and I just wanted to acknowledge him,” said Tatum. “I know that a lot of other players did today, and everybody knows how much he meant to me and still means to me. Just the extra chip, the extra motivation that I feel when I go out there and play, just knowing that he’ll always be my chip and just try to make him proud.”
Hayward home
Gordon Hayward flew home to be with his family Friday, after doing his initial rehab work in the Orlando bubble in his attempt to recover from a Grade 3 sprain of his right ankle.
Estimates don’t have the Celtics forward being available unless the Celtics reach the Eastern Conference Finals, but this will be complicated by Hayward’s stated desire to be present when wife Robyn gives birth to their fourth child in October.
But coach Brad Stevens can’t think that far ahead. With Hayward, his thoughts are strictly on the forward’s recovery.
“I don’t have any idea of that timeline,” said Stevens. “That’s dependent. The plan of attack from what I’ve been told is when he’s closing in on being ready to play, he’ll be back.
“He’ll just do rehab where he is – that’s all I know.”
In focus
The only downside, probably, to going into a closeout game with a 3-0 lead is the potential loss of focus.
“There’s a lot more negative stuff going on around us. We’re just playing a basketball game,” Stevens said of a potential “negative” result. “We’re gonna try to play as well as we can, whether we’re up 3-0, down 3-0, up 2-1 – whatever, we have to win the next possession. That’s what we’re focused on. It’s hard to win. This series could easily be 2-1, Philadelphia, and that what every series I’ve ever been in is. You just play as well as you can, you have an opportunity today to play again, and that’s that.”