The Boston Celtics are headed to the playoffs despite not having Gordon Hayward for all but one game this season. Their chances of going deep in the postseason – and even winning the Eastern Conference – even looked good until they were shot in the gut by news of guard Kyrie Irving being ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing a surgery that removed a tension wire out of his knee.
This is a huge blow to the Celtics, who will now have now depend on the likes of Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin to fill in the void temporarily left by Irving at the point guard position.
With Irving’s introductory season in Celtics uniform done, he has now virtually unseated Larry Bird as the all-time owner of most points per game averaged by a player in his first season in Boston, per Elias Sports Bureau via ESPN Stats & Info.
Irving averaged 24.4 PPG this season, the most PPG by a player in his first season with the Celtics, surpassing Larry Bird's 21.3 in his rookie season back in 1979-80.
It’s worth noting, however, that Bird played and started all of the Celtics’ 82 games in his rookie year in the NBA. Irving, on the other hand, has played in only 60 games this season.
If the playoffs were to start today, the Celtics will meet the Washington Wizards in the first round. It’s a tough matchup that would get even more difficult for Boston with Kyrie Irving not around, but the Celtics do not have a choice but to go forward.
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