Boston Celtics: Gordon Hayward activates playoff mode, leads C’s to sweep

Gordon Hayward notched his ninth career 20+ point career playoff performance in game four against the Pacers, leading the Boston Celtics to a series sweep in Indiana.

The Eastern Conference’s fourth seed Boston Celtics are heading to round two of the NBA Playoffs.

Following a 110-106 victory in game four over the Indiana Pacers, the Boston Celtics become the first team in this NBA Playoffs to both sweep an opponent and move on out of the first round.

However, this cap off victory over a purely dominant series must be credited to the man who led the Brownsburg Bulldogs to an Indiana state title in the same exact building years ago.

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Fast forward over a decade later and it’s Gordon Hayward who led a Celtics team who’s had their fair share of struggles, criticism and moments in which they’ve been counted out time after time again.

Gordon Hayward wasn’t in Brad Stevens’ starting lineup for game four, nevertheless that had no affect whatsoever with Hayward being the most effective man on the floor from both teams. Hayward led a dominant Celtics bench which primarily carried the offense throughout the game, piling up 49 combined reserve points.

He connected on seven of nine field goal attempts while going a perfect three for three from the outside in 34 minutes played.

Dominant Bench Trio

Boston’s bench entirely was dominant with Hayward leading the charge with 20 points, Marcus Morris with 18, and Terry Rozier with 11. The Hayward, Mook, Scary-Terry bunch combined to score 49 on 69.2 percent shooting from the field while connecting on 7/11 three point field goals.

Hayward’s performance in game four makes him the first Boston Celtics reserve player since Rasheed Wallace (May 26, 2010) to score at least 20 points while shooting at least 77 percent from the field in an NBA playoff game. It was Hayward’s first 20+ point playoff game since May 8, 2017 against the Golden State Warriors during Hayward’s Utah Jazz days.

Thanks to Hayward’s phenomenal game four effort, the Boston Celtics earn their first best of seven playoff series sweep since the 2011 Celtics did so against the New York Knicks.

The Boston Celtics are most likely gonna get set to face off against NBA MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks who currently hold a 3-0 series lead over the Detroit Pistons.

Last season the Boston Celtics eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in a tough seven game series without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.