Boston Celtics veteran forward Gordon Hayward seems to be progressing well with his sprained ankle, and appears poised to return to action soon.
Just not in Game 1 of his team’s East Finals matchup with the Miami Heat.
Ruled out by the team in Monday’s injury report, the Indiana native went through a “hard practice” apart from the rest of the team on Monday according to head coach Brad Stevens.
“He looked good while he was going through it, but there’s a big difference between doing that and actually getting into a game,” explained Stevens.
“I don’t know what that officially means moving forward, but he’s getting better.”
The Celtics coach was non-committal on when Hayward might exit the Disney restart bubble for the birth of his child, but seemed confident the wing would play in the series at some point.
Hayward’s initial diagnosis of four weeks for recovery in the first round of the NBA playoffs put his earliest return date as today, and while initially seen as optimistic, it now appears to have been a fairly solid estimate given the Butler product’s progress.
Hayward’s ability in the midrange would be an incredibly useful tool for busting the zone defense the Heat have used for much of the season, as would the additional depth he would provide to the rotation against a team adept at drawing fouls.
