C’s lose Hayward, game
Gruesome injury overshadows defeat
CLEVELAND — In a sickening flash, Gordon Hayward’s fractured left ankle drained all meaning from the first game of the season.
Regardless of the Celtics’ ability to muster their will by coming back and leading until the last 1:18 of a 102-99 loss to the Cavaliers last night, their thoughts remained with Hayward, who was flown back to Boston and sent directly to New England Baptist Hospital.
The Celtics rallied after a first half described by Brad Stevens as “horrible,” with Kyrie Irving scoring 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter in an emotional return to Cleveland.
Jaylen Brown, determined to play on after the shock of Hayward’s firstquarter injury, scored 25, including a 3-pointer for the lead with 2:41 left. But each player missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game on the last possession. Irving, guarded by ex-teammate LeBron James on the play, embraced the Cavs star before walking off the floor.
“It’s tough. Gordon is a leader of our team, and going into the season, we leaned on him a lot,” Brown said. “Now we just have to come together even more and try to be a better team until he comes back. But it’s tough to see something like that. I hope he recovers as best as he can.”
As evidenced by a forlorn embrace between Marcus Smart and Irving during the timeout while Hayward was being examined on the floor, the Celtics were rocked not only by the gruesome nature of the injury, but also sudden doubts about the forward’s chances of playing any time soon.
Hayward, his left foot twisted at an unnatural angle after landing awkwardly with 6:45 left in the first quarter, was wheeled off the floor with obvious pain and despair on his face.
Hayward had attempted to get his hands on an Irving lob, got wedged between Jae Crowder and LeBron James, and crashed onto his back, his leg buckling underneath him. Both Cavs made contact with Hayward — James attempting to knock the ball out of his hand and Crowder with his body from behind as Hayward extended.
The Celtics forward, signed this summer to a four-year, $128 million contract, sat on the floor holding his head in obvious pain as medical personnel rushed to attend to him.
When he finally was wheeled off on a stretcher, Hayward braced himself in a straight-up sitting position as the crowd cheered in sympathy, and players from both sides looked on in concern.
In the meantime, Celtics rookie Semi Ojeleye led the team in prayer during a somber huddle.
“Semi led us through a prayer for Gordon, hoping everything was all right and could bring us together during this time, and for his family, just to be there for him,” said Brown, who recounted another team-bonding moment at halftime, this time resulting in a second-half surge.
“When you get hit with adversity, there’s two ways you can go — either forward or backward,” Brown added. “Tonight we chose to go forward, and we played a tough game.
“Prayers to Gordon — I hope everything is all right. Hopefully it’s a speedy recovery and we’ll be hearing from him.”
Brad Stevens, who has known Hayward longer than anyone in the NBA, still was visibly numb after the game.
“He’s put in a lot of great work. And I thought he had his most comfortable week as far as feeling like he was going to play really well,” the Celtics coach said. “But now we’ll hopefully get a full recovery, right? And so it’s a tough deal, but I guess that’s part of it: the risk of injury. I really feel for him.”
Stevens then attempted to describe, as best he could, the nature of the injury.
“From what I was told, it was a dislocated ankle and a fractured, what is it, tibia down there, the bone in your leg,” he said. “So the doctors here have looked at it. Our doctors have looked at it. We’ll know a lot more. He’s going to go straight to the hospital when he gets home.”
James, who went into the locker room to check on Hayward between the first and second quarters, also had trouble getting the image of the fractured ankle out of his mind.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to Gordon and his family — hope for a speedy recovery and a healthy recovery,” James said. “I’ve seen a couple of injuries like that in my lifetime. I’ve seen Paul George when it happened to Paul. I was watching the game with Shaun Livingston when it happened when he was with the Clippers. I was watching NCAA basketball when Kevin Ware was at Louisville. Those are the injuries you never see coming, and you never want to happen, no matter who it is, no matter what the stature, no matter (the) competitive nature that you have. It’s just very unfortunate.”