Gordon Hayward injured his right ankle in the Boston Celtics’ 109-101 win in Game 1 of the first round of playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers. As the franchise has now confirmed, the winger will have to sit out for about four weeks and will miss the entire series.
The conference finals are scheduled to start on September 15th. For this series – if the Celtics make the previous two rounds successful – the former jazz could return.
After an initial examination, the Celtics assumed a sprain of the ankle, an MRI confirmed this and revealed a third-degree sprain – the most severe possible, in which at least one ligament is usually torn.
Hayward twisted his right ankle badly in the fourth quarter against the Sixers while fighting for a defensive rebound. Then he immediately hobbled off the parquet and could not return to the court. Hayward finished the game with 12 points, 5 of 13 out of the field, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.
“We don’t know how bad it is, but he’s clearly in a lot of pain,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens after the game. It looked like a swelling had already formed. “Like Malika Andrews from ESPN reported that Hayward left the arena on crutches after the game.
After all, the injured ankle is the right one. In the first game of the 2017/18 season, Hayward sustained a serious injury to his left leg and ankle, due to which he missed the entire season. In the current season he partly built on his strong performances in jazz times and put on an average of 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
Due to the failure of Hayward, Marcus Smart will probably slip into the starting five. Game 2 between the Celtics and Sixers takes place in the night from Wednesday to Thursday (0.30 a.m.).
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