Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward shook all of Massachusetts when he nailed his game-winning shot attempts against the Sacramento Kings last night. However, it could have just as easily been point guard Terry Rozier, who took Boston’s final shot, per Celtics head coach Brad Stevens.
“We were just going to give Terry or Gordon a run at it, length of the floor they’re both good going length of the floor,” said Stevens. “Gordon made a nice play, obviously. He got to his left hand, hit that little fadeaway. He’s been hitting that pretty regularly.”
“On a night when he didn’t shoot it great, that was obviously a big — huge — shot for us.”
At that point in the game, Rozier was 6-13 from the field (4-10 shooting from three-point range) while Hayward was 5-9 (but 0-4 from three-point range). However, while only one of Rozier’s field goals would come from within the restricted area, the same would be true for Hayward.
Furthermore, out of the five field goals Hayward made to that point, they all had come from the left side of the floor. That said, when starting forward Marcus Morris inbounded the ball to Hayward, it was a mark of respect from Morris and a solid display of talent and confidence by Hayward.
Even if the All-Star caliber wing would downplay his role in the nailbiter.
