Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics came into the season with a lot of hype surrounding them. After making it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season without Irving or Gordon Hayward, the Celtics were expected to take yet another step forward to begin this season. Unfortunately, they haven't gotten off to the start they were looking for.
Boston is currently 7-4, which isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. That being said, they have had some major struggles on offense.
One player who has struggled to start the season is Hayward, who is coming off a gruesome ankle injury that ended his season in the first game of last season. He has struggled to get going on the offensive end of the court, but is hoping to change that in his first game against the Jazz on Saturday.
Irving wants Hayward to tune out the crowd noise in his return to Utah. Jazz fans were not happy with Hayward's decision to leave Utah and will likely let him hear it.
In an interview shared by MassLive.com, Irving talked about what he wants Hayward to do:
“Just try not to get too caught up into what the outside is going on. It really doesn't matter. It really does not matter — like, at all. I know the love and support that he's garnered there. Gordon's a great person. Don't allow competition in basketball to be influenced by what everybody else's opinion and criticism and all that other stuff of what it should be like in an environment for him. If they boo him great. If they don't great. It doesn't matter at all. It's just basketball, like, you know what I mean? If anything, he gave (seven years) of his career trying to be the best he could in Utah, and I give him credit for that. And he made a decision in his career, and in his life, for his family, to be better. I'll leave it at that.”
Hayward has scored just 9.9 points per game so far this season to go along with 5.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists. He has shot 40 percent from the floor overall and 33.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
Returning to Utah could be exactly what Hayward needs to turn things around. If he can come through with a big game against his former team, he could get the momentum needed to get back to his star form.
Expect to see Hayward received negatively when he takes the court against the Jazz. Utah feels like he stabbed them in the back while leaving, but that was not the case. Hayward needs to come out looking to prove that he made the right decision to sign with the Celtics and help lead his team to a big win on the road.
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