- Patrick Dunne of NBC Sports Boston examines the historical significance of the Celtics’ 10-game win streak, which was ended by Sacramento on Sunday night. Boston has lost just two games this season, dominating teams on both ends of the floor despite dealing with various injuries. This was the team’s 29th time achieving a win streak greater than 10 games.
- It’s time to stop acting surprised about the improved three-point shooting from Celtics guard Marcus Smart, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston opines. Smart posted a career-high in three-point percentage last season (36.4%), with his average gradually improving since his sophomore season in 2015-16. He’s connected on 31 of 76 attempts from behind-the-arc in 11 games this year (41%).
Here are Tuesday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:
- Victor Oladipo was assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants to practice with the G League squad. He then was recalled by the Pacers and as Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link), there remains no timetable for his return. Oladipo has another appointment with his doctor in a few weeks, according to Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link), who hears the shooting guard has impressed during drills.
- The Clippers have assigned two players to the G League. Mfiondu Kabengele and Derrick Walton Jr. will both report to the Agua Caliente Clippers, per the team’s Twitter feed.
- The Knicks have recalled Ignas Brazdeikis from the Westchester Knicks, per the team’s Twitter feed. New York’s second-round pick was sent to the G League on Monday.
- The Celtics have assigned four players to the G League for practice and then recalled each one. Grant Williams, Vincent Poirier, Carsen Edwards and Romeo Langford all practiced with the Maine Red Claws today.
- The Rockets sent Gary Clark and Isaiah Hartenstein to the G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, as Mark Berman of Fox26 tweets.
7:07pm: Hayward is expected to miss approximately six weeks after undergoing the surgery, the Celtics announced in a press release.
2:51pm: Celtics forward Gordon Hayward will undergo surgery in New York this afternoon on his broken left hand, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links). The team is waiting until after the procedure is complete to establish a timeline for Hayward’s return, Woj adds.
Hayward suffered the injury during Saturday’s win in San Antonio, as we previously relayed. At the time, Bartelstein told Wojnarowski that his client would be seeing a specialist on Monday to determine whether or not surgery was necessary.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens suggested in the wake of the injury that surgery may give Hayward the quickest path to returning to action. While Boston has yet to formally determine or announce a recovery timetable, I’d expect the 29-year-old to miss at least a few weeks. Stephen Curry was recently ruled out for at least three months after undergoing left hand surgery, but he fractured a different part of his hand than Hayward did.
The timing is especially unfortunate for Hayward, who appeared to be rounding back into his old form after being slowed last season by the ankle injury that caused him to miss the entire 2017/18 campaign. In his first seven games for the Celtics this season, the former All-Star was averaging 20.3 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 4.6 APG with a .564/.444/.842 shooting line.
After signing with the Celtics in the offseason, Enes Kanter was the team’s starting center on opening night, but hasn’t suited up since then, having been on the shelf since the regular season opener due to a left knee contusion. Having missed seven games, Kanter has now been cleared to return, as Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston tweets.
While it’s not clear what role he’ll play in his first game back, Kanter should be active for the Celtics on Monday night vs. Dallas. Boston won all seven contests he missed and will look to keep up that streak now that the big man is reentering the rotation.
- With Tony Parker set to have his jersey retired in San Antonio, Mike Monroe of The Athletic revisits the 2001 draft, when the French point guard was nearly selected at No. 21 by the Celtics. As Monroe tells it, new Boston GM Chris Wallace was prepared to select Parker, but was overruled by C’s legend and team president Red Auerbach, who wanted Joseph Forte instead. Forte only ended up playing in eight games for the Celtics, while Parker – selected by the Spurs at No. 28 – became a six-time All-Star and future Hall-of-Famer.
Here are Sunday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:
- The Bucks have recalled Dragan Bender from the Wisconsin Herd, announcing the news on Twitter. Bender averaged 19 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in two starts while on assignment with the team.
- The Celtics have recalled Romeo Langford from the Maine Red Claws, G League affiliate of the team, the club announced on social media. Boston has a home game scheduled against Minnesota on Monday night.
- The Knicks announced today that they have recalled Ignas Brazdeikis from Westchester, releasing the news on Twitter. Brazdeikis was selected by the team No. 47 overall in the draft last June.
Jaylen Brown suddenly has a much larger role in the Celtics’ offense after Gordon Hayward suffered a fracture in his left hand last night, writes Sean Deveney of Heavy. Brown responded right away, scoring 30 points in the win at San Antonio, with 18 of those coming after Hayward left in the game in the second quarter.
It’s a chance for Brown to prove he’s worth the four-year, $115MM extension that Celtics management gave him last month. It was a surprise to many after Brown’s scoring average dipped to 13.0 PPG in a disappointing second season, but he believes it was a matter of what he was being asked to do.
“I wouldn’t say (the game) slowed down,” he said. “I just think a different role, more opportunity. I keep preaching that. I don’t think I had the same opportunity last year.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Hayward will meet with doctors tomorrow to determine if surgery is necessary, and coach Brad Stevens believes it might be the quickest path to playing again, Deveney relays in the same story. “It sounds like, should he decide that, the surgery option might actually be a better timeline,” Stevens told reporters after the game. “We’ll see what that all plays out to be. Who knows? It’s too bad.” The injury happened shortly before halftime as Hayward collided with LaMarcus Aldridge on a screen. He was wearing a cast on the hand as the team returned home.
- The emergence of Javonte Green gives the Celtics another weapon to help survive the loss of Hayward, notes A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston. Green has modest stats through six games, averaging just 3.0 points per night, but his numbers per 36 minutes (19.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 55.6% shooting) are similar to Hayward’s. Green earned the Celtics’ final roster spot after making a strong impression during Summer League and in the preseason.
- Marcus Smart was fined $15K for criticizing the officials after Thursday’s game in Charlotte, according to Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston. “I wish they would call the game the right way, you know?” Smart said. “A lot of calls that they called, I didn’t understand where the fouls were. And it just seems like, whenever I get the ball and I’m on offense, I can’t get a call.”
Gordon Hayward suffered a fracture in his left hand during today’s game in San Antonio, the Celtics confirmed on Twitter.
Hayward appeared to be pointing to the middle or ring finger area on the hand as he was removed from the game, tweets Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. An X-ray in the locker room confirmed the fracture.
Hayward will see a specialist Monday to determine if he will need surgery, agent Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The operation would take place Monday if doctors decide it’s necessary, but a timeline for him to return won’t be set until that ruling is made.
Hayward is off to a strong start this year and appeared to be fully healthy for the first time since fracturing his ankle on opening night of the 2017/18 season. He averaged 20.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists through the first seven games as the Celtics rose to the top of the East with a 6-1 start.
Knicks forward Marcus Morris recently expressed some disappointment that he didn’t get an opportunity to remain with the Celtics when he became a free agent this summer. Responding to those comments in an appearance today on Toucher and Rich in Boston, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge acknowledged that the C’s didn’t make Morris an offer once the team locked in on Kemba Walker. However, Ainge did say the team put a three-year extension offer on the table for Morris before the 2018/19 season began (Twitter link via Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston).
Because Morris was earning a fairly modest salary last season, the Celtics’ ability to give him a significant raise would have been limited. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), Boston would have been able to offer up to about $34.36MM for three years, the same deal Spencer Dinwiddie got from Brooklyn.
Whether or not the Celtics went as high as $34MM+, Morris did better as a free agent in terms of 2019/20 salary — but his $15MM deal with New York only covers one season. If he had known what awaited him in free agency, it’s possible he would have more open to that three-year extension offer last year. And if he had accepted it, it likely would have had a ripple effect on the Celtics’ future plans, including perhaps their ability to land Walker.
The Celtics may finally have the version of Gordon Hayward that they invested a four-year max deal in, writes Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. Two years ago, Hayward suffered a severe ankle injury that wiped out virtually his entire 2017/18 season and limited his effectiveness throughout 2018/19.
But through the first six games of this season, he seems back to his All-Star self, averaging 20.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per night while emerging as the leader of Boston’s offense. The latest example came last night as he hit 17-of-20 shots from the field and posted 39 points in a win at Cleveland, then told reporters that he hopes to leave concerns about his ankle in the past.
“I don’t think about it,” Hayward said. “I haven’t thought about it for a while. Hopefully you guys can stop asking me questions about that.”
There’s more Celtics news to pass along:
- Some of Kemba Walker‘s former Hornets teammates shared their memories of him with Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer in advance of Walker’s return to Charlotte tomorrow night. Walker spent eight years in the city and set nearly every franchise scoring record before signing with the Celtics this summer. “If you didn’t know basketball, and you walked into our locker room, you wouldn’t guess that guy was the star,” Nicolas Batum said. “He never acted crazy with any of that star stuff, like skip practice or be lazy today.”
- With the G League season starting soon, fan favorite Tacko Fall will probably only make brief appearances with the Celtics, according to Tom Westerholm of MassLive. Fall is limited to 45 days in the NBA, and the team wants to maximize that time in case early-season injuries to its centers continue. “We’ve played multiple games now down two bigs,” coach Brad Stevens said. “So now we’re going to have him come up for one day (at a time) a lot I think, rather than a week at a time or two weeks at a time.”
- Marcus Smart had an injury scare during a collision last night, relays John Karalis of MassLive. “The oblique again, the exact same one, and it knocked the wind out of me,” Smart said in reference to the torn left oblique that limited his availability in last year’s playoffs. “It was scary because I thought the same thing was about to happen that happened last year. But thank God the oblique is stronger and it’s able to withstand hits like that, so that’s good.”
Brad Stevens‘s new-look Celtics are off to their best start in his tenure as head coach, with a sterling 5-1 record. A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston opines that the Celtics’ winning ways are attributable to five key factors: an easy connection with new point guard Kemba Walker; strong second halves on offense and defense; a relative dearth of contract drama; no idle chatter of Stevens mulling a return to the NCAA; and Stevens’ willingness for self-reflection following the disappointment of the 2018/19 Celtics.