The Boston Celtics are slowly turning their season around, and Gordon Hayward thinks Friday's win over the Toronto Raptors can be a “building block” as they establish their dominance in the Eastern Conference.
Gordon Hayward was instrumental to Boston's huge overtime win over the Raptors, tallying 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals in 39 minutes against the top team in the East. Following the team's gritty victory, the All-Star forward told reporters that it could be the start of their resurgence.
“I think we can use it as a building block,” Hayward said, per Sean Deveney of Sporting News. “I think we are still not playing our best basketball, I think we went through a little drought there. We’ve shown numerous times that we’re fighters and we are going to continue to fight. But we have got to get to the point where we are playing 48 minutes of basketball the way we want to play. It’s a process for us. We’re using this one as a building block.”
While the Raptors game is a major factor in the improvement of the team, Boston's thrashing of the Chicago Bulls last Wednesday could be a sign that the team has finally woken up. Still reeling from their fourth loss in five games, the Celtics asserted their dominance against the Bulls with a balanced scoring distribution. Every Celtic that played in the game scored four or more points, with six players banking double-digits.
Boston started the season with a 7-6 record mainly because of their inefficiency on offense. The Celtics now rank 23rd in points per game (106.7) and 28th in field goal percentage (43.5 percent). However, Boston showed up ready in the showdown against Toronto, shooting 52.8 percent from the field and scoring a season-high 123 points.
Hayward and the Celtics look to even things up with the Utah Jazz, Saturday night. The Jazz beat the Celtics in their first game, 123-115.
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