INDIANAPOLIS -- With the Boston Celtics on the verge of pulling away for good in Game 4 against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, Gordon Hayward fumbled the ball off his leg with the shot clock winding down.
Hayward chased it down near half-court, then dribbled to his right around a screen from Al Horford. With Myles Turner switched onto him behind the arc, Hayward backed up one more time nearly to the half-court circle, then dribbled in and fired a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down. The shot dropped in, and Hayward bounced back on defense yelling about something indistinguishable, his team up by eight and in control of the series’ decisive game.
For Hayward, the 20-point performance in Boston’s 110-106 was a nice redemption narrative on a couple of levels. In a micro sense, Hayward got Turner back for a vicious dunk in the first half -- a poster so devastating, it woke up Indiana’s sleepy 1 p.m. crowd. In a macro sense, Hayward’s return to playing like himself hasn’t been limited to the regular season. He looks like a star again at the most important time.
“He can do a lot on the floor for us, and he’s starting to show it,” Al Horford said. “And this is the time that we need him to show it. Regular season doesn’t matter.”
Horford has a point: The Celtics were never going to be judged by their regular-season performance -- something several Celtics individually have pointed out on multiple occasions. So for Hayward, who had the dual task of re-integrating himself onto the court after a devastating injury and working himself into a system that had succeeded without him, the first 82 games were less about his performance and more about his progression.
“It’s been a long process to get back to where he probably feels as good as he does now, we knew that going in,” Brad Stevens said. “We said all year, 20, 40, 60, 80, every 20 games he’s going to be a little bit better, and he was big at the end of the game tonight for sure.”
Scott Morrison, the Celtics assistant coach assigned to work with Hayward, said he hadn’t heard Stevens’ theory about 20-game progressions.
But still: “With everything, a long season, with everything you’re doing, you try to break it up so it doesn’t get monotonous or overwhelmed by how long it is,” Morrison said. “I think 20 games is pretty good in terms of his stages of improvement throughout the season. ... That last 20 game stretch before the playoffs, I thought that showed that he was back, and that hopefully gave him a little of confidence in the postseason to make a big impact."
Hayward has indeed made a big impact -- the Celtics were 8.6 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor against the Pacers, per Cleaning the Glass. That doesn’t approach the likes of Al Horford (+29.8) and Kyrie Irving (+23), but it does illustrate the difference between the current version of Hayward and the one that struggled at the outset.
“I think, physically, I feel way better now than I did at the beginning of the season,” Hayward said. “I think, more than anything though, having reps and having experience with this team. Getting a chance to play with these guys and trying to figure out strengths and where guys like to be on the court, what they like to do in different situations.”
As has been the case all season, Hayward raises Boston’s ceiling significantly. Games in which he scored 14 points or shot better than 40 percent from behind the arc were almost constantly predictive of the team’s success. Down the stretch, as Hayward’s play began to spike upward noticeably, the Celtics began to look more cohesive, even when they dropped a few games in April. Something just looked notably different.
Perhaps most notably, Hayward’s ability to do a little bit of everything made both offense and defense easier, and -- importantly -- he gave Boston another place to draw water when the well dried offensively. On Sunday, with Horford and Kyrie Irving struggling from the field (8-for-32 combined from the field), Hayward’s performance in the fourth quarter squashed any hope Indiana may have harbored about sending the series back to TD Garden.
“This is his city,” Irving said. “This is where he’s from, and I’m glad that he had a chance to put on a performance like that in a closeout game that really means something to him. ... Gordon being aggressive and making shots and making timely stops, it’s not just on offense either. Defensively, he’s in the right spots. He had two steals tonight, a blocked shot. That’s impacting the game, and you just want guys that are ready to go."
For Hayward, the moment was made sweeter not only because he helped close the series in front of friends and family, but also because he remembers all too well what it feels like to be sidelined at this time of year.
He’s come a long way since then.
“There’s nothing worse than sitting there and not be able to play in the playoffs especially,” Hayward said. “So to be able to be with my teammates, be a part of something like this where we got a chance to sweep the Pacers, after everything that happened last year, it makes it all worth it, no doubt. And it’s just the beginning for us. We still got a lot of work to do.”