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Gordon Hayward’s fourth straight 20-point game leads Celtics to rout of Warriors

Gordon Hayward got off to a flying start this season, and during the first few weeks looked well on his way to returning to his pre-injury form. Then, he suffered a broken hand in a freak collision with LaMarcus Aldridge, and in the process of working his way back from that injury, dealt with some nerve pain in his foot. 

As a result, he struggled through a tough month-plus. But now he’s healthy, and the results are once again tremendous for the Celtics. On Thursday night, he fired in a team-high 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Celtics to a comfortable 119-104 win over the Golden State Warriors

Whether it was knocking down catch-and-shoot 3s, pulling up for mid-range jumpers or finishing at the rim, Hayward was doing a little bit of everything for the Celtics. And he did it efficiently, shooting 8-of-15 from the field and 3-of-5 from downtown. The competition obviously wasn’t the greatest, but it was still encouraging to see Hayward keep playing with confidence. 

This was Hayward’s fourth straight 20-plus point game and is the first time he’s put together such a scoring streak since early in 2017. His strong play in recent weeks has been vital in getting the Celtics back on track. After losing six out of eight games, the Celtics have ripped off a 5-1 stretch to improve to 32-15, and jump back into third place in the East. 

During those six games, Hayward is putting up 21.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game on 54.9 percent shooting from the field, 50 percent from 3 and 88.9 percent from the line. There’s no question that he’s been their best player during the hot streak, and his strong play couldn’t have come at a better time considering both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have missed multiple games recently. 

Hayward scoring like this is obviously a huge boost to the Celtics, and makes them even more dangerous. His ability to score at all three levels, in particular, adds a nice bit of variance to their attack. But it’s Hayward’s ability to do just about everything else that’s perhaps even more important. Between Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, this team is going to have scoring. Will they take 20 per game from Hayward? Of course. 

But he also gives them excellent rebounding from the wing, which is vital on a team that is thin in the frontcourt, and is a very solid playmaker. He can run the show when Kemba Walker sits, or allow Walker to play off-ball when they’re on the court together. Hayward isn’t a big man, but he’s fourth on the team in rebounding, and he’s not a point guard, but he’s third on the team in assists. 

He’s just a versatile, heady player who rarely makes mistakes, and improves those around him. And when he’s scoring like this, the Celtics are very difficult to beat. 

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