It’s taken some time, but Gordon Hayward is starting to look like his past All-Star self.
Hayward had a career night Tuesday in the Celtics’ win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, dropping 39 points to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds. It was the latest performance in what’s been an encouraging start to the season for Hayward, who’s currently averaging 20.3 points per game through six contests.
The 29-year-old had a handful of flashes last season, which on numerous occasions prompted the basketball world to prematurely declare him “back.” But Jalen Rose now feels comfortable making this proclamation, as Hayward seems to have revamped part of his game that was lost in his first season back from injury.
” … Something that really jumped out to me that let me know that his confidence level is back is that he was doing wrong-foot layups and wrong-foot dunks,” Rose said Wednesday on ESPN’s “Jalen & Jacoby. “So now the confidence in a guy that dealt with injuries in his lower extremities — we always knew he could shoot the jump shot, but now he’s driving to the basket with a level of ferocity that the Boston Celtics are going to need all season.”
While we’re still very early into the season, it sure seems like Hayward fully understands and is comfortable with his role. This a vast contrast from the 2018-19 campaign, in which the C’s never formed a true identity and the majority of players were lost in the fray. Boston needs Hayward to be one of its primary scorers who can find his own shot, and the veteran forward thus far has proven to be up to the challenge.
