The Boston Celtics’ season ended unceremoniously Sunday night when they were unable to knock off LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals at TD Garden.
Boston’s focus must now shift to the future, which couldn’t be brighter — pending health of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.
Irving underwent a knee procedure in April and missed Boston’s entire postseason run. He also had an operation on his nose that caused him not to be on the bench during the C’s Game 7 loss.
As for Hayward, the star forward suffered a gruesome leg injury five minutes into the regular season and has been working his way back ever since.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge gave an encouraging update on the 28-year-old’s progress Monday.
“Gordon is progressing well,” Ainge said, via MassLive. “He’s on the court now, finally doing a little bit of competition, like just 1-on-1. And he’ll progress along that line slowly. We think that he’ll be playing basketball in the next couple months.”
The Celtics never reached their fully actualized version this season and still were just minutes away from the NBA Finals. With Irving and Hayward expected to be back and fully healthy, the Eastern Conference should be Boston’s for the taking.
