As Boston Celtics Gordon Hayward works his way back from his gruesome leg injury he has made a couple of big steps back in the last couple of weeks. He can now run in a straight line and come to a stop and is doing some lateral movements without pain.
According to Hayward, he also dunked a basketball for the first time last week, and he was also able to do that without pain.
“I dunked the basketball for the first time off my left foot without pain last week,” Hayward told the Boston Globe Thursday night in Boston. “That felt awesome. I went into it very soft and gingerly, and after I did it, I was like, ‘OK, that didn’t hurt it all.’ I did it again, and it felt good.”
It's good to hear that he was able to dunk again, but the most important part was that he is also doing it all without pain again. Hayward does admit every time before he tries something new he does get a bit nervous to do it trying to protect the ankle.
“Leading up to doing something new, I think I’m anxious and nervous a little bit, and, subconsciously, I think a little scared,” he said. “A lot of times when I do something new, I think I like to just protect [my ankle], and I don’t go as hard as I probably could. After I do something a couple times, my brain and my body kind of tells me, ‘OK, it’s fine. You can do this again.’ The bone is strong, everything is strong, and then it takes a little bit, but then it’s kind of normal.”
The next big step for Hayward seems to be able to do all these things without any nerves. When he gets back on the court for the Celtics he can't be holding anything back because he is afraid of what might happen to him. He needs to trust that everything he has done up to this point will protect him on the court.
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