Boston Celtics: Watch out NBA, All-Star Gordon Hayward has arrived

After struggling to get back into the flow of the game through the early part of the season, it appears Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward is close to his old self.

The Boston Celtics are starting to look like the team everyone expected them to be and it’s all because a few of their players are starting to play the type of basketball they are known for.

One of those players is Gordon Hayward.

After suffering that gruesome lower leg injury at the start of the 2017-18 season, Hayward has had to battle his way back to even be ready physically for the start of the 2018-19 NBA season.

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On a minutes restriction, Hayward had up and down performances through the early part of the season.  As the team struggled, more emphasis was put on Hayward and a lack of patience surrounded his play.  Fair or unfair, it appeared working Gordon Hayward back into the mix of the rotation was having a trickle-down impact on some of the team’s younger players.

His lack of putting together consistent performances also started to impact the mindset of Hayward himself.  Then Kyrie Irving challenged him to be more aggressive on the court.  Since then, Gordon Hayward has put together a couple of 30-point performances and has looked close to his old self while doing so.

Not only has he started to knock down the shots he is known for, he is driving strung to the hoop, setting up teammates and playing strong defense.

The confidence has come both physically and mentally and it has shown on the basketball court.  After a 35-point performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Hayward followed it up with a near triple-double in the team’s blowout win against the Dallas Mavericks. Then, Monday night, Hayward contributed 12 points in a victory against the Brooklyn Nets.

While the performance against the Nets didn’t result in All-Star numbers, the fact that Gordon Hayward put together consecutive strong performances is what fans can be encouraged about.

The Hayward we’ve been waiting for

It took over a quarter of an NBA season, but finally the Boston Celtics are seeing the Gordon Hayward they signed to a Max deal in the Summer of 2017.  He is more aggressive, having fun and just playing free and Irving is loving it.

"“He’s just playing free, he’s playing free,” Irving said, as transcribed by Yahoo! Sports.  “You want him keeping the same energy, the same motivation, the same intensity.  That’s who he is, we just need him to be aggressive on both ends of the floor.  Offensively, manage our offense and create opportunities for himself first and, as he does that, the defenses will kind of collapse on these drives as he’s done so far.  We’ve seen him come into the lane and throw lobs and throw great passes but now when he’s scoring, he becomes that much bigger of a threat.”"

Now, it may still take some time before Gordon Hayward becomes close to the 20-point a game score he developed into with the Utah Jazz, but if he is consistently the player who teases triple-doubles on a nightly basis, that will help this Boston Celtics team continue to strive back to the top of the Eastern Conference.

For now, it is great to see the hard work Hayward has put in starting to pay off.  Not only is it paying dividends for his confidence, it is playing off for a team that is finding their identity.  So, yeah, watch out NBA, Gordon Hayward is finding his game again and that is making the Boston Celtics a dangerous team again.