In the 2017-18 NBA season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics lost Gordon Hayward to a season-ending injury. Despite losing their one-time All-Star, Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, and young prospects stepped up en route to a 53-25 record, second-best in the Eastern Conference.
Unfortunately, the Celtics announced Irving will miss the rest of the regular season and playoffs. However, President of Basketball Operations and general manager Danny Ainge provided an optimistic message to fans according to Steve Bulpett of Boston Herald:
“We’re not giving up on this,” the Celtics’ president of basketball operations told the Herald. “Absolutely not.
Despite all the new players and injuries, Ainge feels the Celtics have continued to battle against other playoff-bound teams:
“We’ve competed with the best teams in the league with all the injuries we’ve had to Marcus [Smart] and Kyrie and Gordon Hayward and Daniel Theis. We beat a hungry Oklahoma City team. We beat Portland on their home court. We beat Utah, who’s one of the hottest teams in the league fighting for their lives, on their home court. We beat Toronto last Saturday.
As the Miami Heat (sixth spot) and Milwaukee Bucks (eighth spot) are only separated by half a game, the Celtics are currently scheduled to face the Washington Wizards. After John Wall recently returned from a 26-game absence due to knee surgery, the Wizards should be better than their 42-36 record indicates and were expected to be a top-four team in the Eastern Conference prior to the season.
With Terry Rozier averaging 17.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in 13 starts, it will be interesting to see if he can help carry the Celtics deep into the playoffs.
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