While his return to excellence didn’t happen while they were still teammates, Al Horford is happy Gordon Hayward is himself again.
Through a happy accident sparked by a quirk in the NBA schedule which saw the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers both in town to play the New York Knicks at home, the former Boston big man was able to catch up with Gordon Hayward last weekend.
“I’m just happy for him that everyone can actually see his game and what he can do,” explained Horford (via the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett).
The Florida product decamped to the Sixers in search of a title and one last big paycheck, with that franchise looking more likely to be competitive after the tumult of last season in Boston.
Herald web-only:
Al Horford on Gordon Hayward… plus his opinion on what's behind the fact the Celtics have gotten off to a good start.https://t.co/MC01CxARlp— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) December 2, 2019
“He hasn’t been able to showcase that. Last year he really wasn’t able to. I think that with the hand stuff, once he gets his rhythm again, he’ll be fine. It might take some time, but he’s going to be fine,” he added, referring to the broken hand sustained by Hayward earlier in November against the San Antonio Spurs.
Hayward had been putting up his best numbers since his years with the Utah Jazz before the hand injury, having suffered a catastrophic ankle injury just moments into his Celtics tenure.
Shooting 60 % from two and 43.3 % from deep, the Butler product was on track for his fourth-best scoring season with 18.9 points per game, and to tie his second-best assist rate with 4.1 per game.
With 7.1 boards per contest, he will shatter his next-closest rate if he keeps up that pace when he comes back, his previous high being 5.4.
As optimistic as the Dominican center is about Hayward’s return to form post-hand injury, he’s not particularly surprised by Boston’s success given what he knows about its head coach Brad Stevens, even considering said hand injury’s impact on the team.
“[W]ith coach Stevens it doesn’t surprise me,” Horford offered. “Coach, you know, he’s going to put everyone in position to be successful. I mean, even the year that we were there that Kyrie [Irving] and Gordon were missing and we had Shane Larkin starting or Semi [Ojeleye], he figured out how to do the most with what he had. So I’m not surprised by [the Celtics’ good start].”
While the Celtics were at the top of the league during their ten-game win streak, it seemed the Puerto Plata native might have jumped the gun on changing his allegiances at least so far as the title chase was concerned, his new team stumbling a bit after a strong start.
For now, though Boston is still ahead of the 76ers in the standings by the thinnest of margins, the top of the East is closer than anticipated with the sixth-place Indiana Pacers just 4.5 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Bucks.
If nothing else, Horford can take a little joy in seeing his former teammates getting their mojo back, continuing their upward ascent.
At least, presumably, when he’s not facing them on the court.