BOSTON — Defenseman Dougie Hamilton has missed the Bruins’ last five games and could be out for the remainder of the B’s season. On Wednesday, Kelly Olynyk might have told the world why.
The Boston Celtics big man played Wednesday night with a huge shiner above his left eye after taking an elbow to the face during pregame shootaround. When asked after the game whether he considered sitting out, Olynyk said he did, but he didn’t want to have to hear about it from Hamilton, a fellow Toronto native.
“Yeah, but I remember two days ago I was talking to Dougie Hamilton,” Olynyk said after the Celtics’ 100-87 win over the Indiana Pacers. “I was texting Dougie Hamilton, and he told me that he broke his ribs and he was trying to come back before the playoffs. And I was like, ‘Man, I can’t sit out. He’s going to rip me.’ … All those hockey guys would kill me, so I had to do it.”
That seems like an innocent enough comment from Olynyk, who finished with 19 points in the win, but there was one problem: The Bruins haven’t revealed the nature of Hamilton’s injury, saying only that the 21-year-old blueliner is out indefinitely with an undisclosed ailment.
Now, Olynyk might have been pulling Hamilton’s leg, or (more likely) he might have been unaware that the specifics of the D-man’s injury were not public knowledge. Either way, it’s safe to say he’ll be getting a phone call from his hockey-playing buddy Wednesday night.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
