It's been eight months since Gordon Hayward broke his ankle that spelled the end of his debut season with the Boston Celtics. It was a tough blow to the team, but they persevered well enough to remain as among the top teams in the East led by Kyrie Irving.
Unfortunately, Irving was also put on the shelves for the entire playoffs, dampening the Celtics' hopes even further. Despite these setbacks, Boston is still touted as one of the favorites to win it all next season. Fans have moved on. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have flourished. Hayward's condition improves daily. But Irving is still haunted by the moment of his All-Star teammate's injury.
Speaking as a guest on The Bill Simmons' Podcast, Irving looked back on Hayward's scary fall.
“I’m the one that threw the pass for the alley-oop, and I was just like holding on to that for a while. I’ll take part of the responsibility because he wasn’t really open — I saw D-Wade (Dwyane Wade) over there … He just came down wrong, and I was like, ‘Ah, f.’”
“I just was pissed. I was pissed for our team and, more or less, for Gordon. He was just now getting to start a rhythm in preseason. It was just tough.”
“I’m still sick about it. Because we had a really good training camp, like a really good training camp.”
Irving has been a hot topic as of late due to his contract situation, electing to not commit longterm with the Celtics. Boston is somehow still confident in their prolonged partnership and with a healthy Hayward in tow, adding to an already deep roster, the promise of years as contenders could eventually prove sufficient for the dazzling point guard to agree to a megabuck extension in Beantown.
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