Haywards 3-month trend

[LilRip]

Physically he’s not fully back yet but it was nice seeing him with some aggression. I’m fairly sure hitting those two 3’s early gave him a ton of confidence. He even drove against Embiid and drew a foul!

Most of the Celtics avoided driving on Embid directly, but if you attack him directly, you can get him in foul trouble.

In almost any other game, Hayward would’ve pulled up for a 15 footer. He looked different in Philly tonight. It’s frustrating because we can see how good he can potentially be. The consistency just isn’t there

[moiso]

I think it's time to start Hayward.

He's been playing great and IMO the most complete player on this team, maybe other than Al.

I'd love to see him run point, kind of turn him into a Simmons type role. I think he is our best facilitator at this point of the season.. I know it'll never happen but I think it could work.

You might be right about Hayward being our best facilitator.  They have been using him in point guard type role which suits him.  I think I still prefer him to come off the bench though.  He has more reason to be in attack mode off the bench.  He tends to defer at times and I'm not sure he'd be aggressive enough as a starter when Kyrie is playing.

[SHAQATTACK]

Either Gordy or Al need to be on the court all,the time .   Amd its worse if Smart is not helping them.

Going away from the above leads to " Rozier Ball"  ..losing basketball

[ozgod]

I don't want to see any more 2 points or 4 points per night from Hayward. Make them go away!!!

I want to see 26 points per night from Hayward!!! That kind of Hayward that I longed dream of having since the summer of 2017!!

Don't think anyone, not even Kyrie, will be able to score 26 a night given how loaded the team is. Just not enough touches to go around to feed everyone. Hayward's not going to go 6-7 from 3 regularly, he's a 36% 3FG shooter over his career. Plus he's the most unselfish player on the team. But if he contributes a solid 12-17ppg at a high efficiency with the capability to go big when he is needed then we will be getting solid minutes from him. That's the thing with our team - multiple players are capable of scoring 20+ if it's their night. The key for the team is recognizing whose night it is and feeding that person, and being prepared to step up when needed, while still being unselfish. Easier said than done 

Maybe next year if the number of mouths to feed drops we'll see more of the Utah Hayward from a stats point of view. I was more impressed with his poise in running the point for the team in that 3rd quarter, after Brad decided not to go with Wanamaker and went with a backcourt of Hayward and Smart.

[Erik]

There's definitely a physical component. He's clearly not 100%. His injury was massive. He should be 100% next season. Unfortunately, for sports fans patience isn't their strong suit.

[fairweatherfan]

Physically he’s not fully back yet but it was nice seeing him with some aggression. I’m fairly sure hitting those two 3’s early gave him a ton of confidence. He even drove against Embiid and drew a foul!

Most of the Celtics avoided driving on Embid directly, but if you attack him directly, you can get him in foul trouble.

And as we saw in the playoffs and last night, Embiid will not take ANY defensive chances when he's got 5, something we've been smart enough to exploit.



Brilliant game by Hayward, could tell he had it in the 1st quarter. He's not gonna suddenly bust out of his shell but he's slowly becoming more efficient and effective.

[PAOBoston]

Is there an easy way to pull up his stats in games when Kyrie does not play? Feels like he definitely excels in those games.

[apc]

I think at list 3 times yesterday he lost his balance/slipped, i wonder if it was related to his injury

[Big333223]

Was he actually more aggressive last night or was he just knocking down his shots? He only attempted 11 shots last night and 7 of those were 3's. He did get to the line for 4 FTA's which was good but I didn't think he was noticeably more aggressive or attacking more than he has been.

I could've missed it. I was watching the weird TNT Overtime broadcast.

[keevsnick]

I don’t really think his issues have been physical.

At least partially they have been physical.  About a month ago he admitted he was still dealing with soreness and rehabbing.  Hopefully he's starting to feel sore less often.

Ya its clear he hasn't been as explosive, even last night 22 points (6 threes, 2 long twos) were jumpers and he wasn't exactly getting to the rim. But this is actually a god thing! I think as the season progresses he will regain strength, regain explosion and be sore less often. Hopeful hes like at least 85% by playoffs and 100% next year.

[keevsnick]

Was he actually more aggressive last night or was he just knocking down his shots? He only attempted 11 shots last night and 7 of those were 3's. He did get to the line for 4 FTA's which was good but I didn't think he was noticeably more aggressive or attacking more than he has been.

I could've missed it. I was watching the weird TNT Overtime broadcast.

No you are right. 6 threes, two long two, and two of those free throws were because he was in the bonus and not even off a drive or aggressive action. So ya, he could still stand to be more aggressive. But I thought he at least looked more fluid going into his shots. I am encouraged. Of course he's had really good games before,he has to keep it up.

[bdm860]

Gordon Hayward is trending in the right direction:

December: 10.4 PPG, 37% FG
January: 11.5 PPG, 46.5% FG
February: 14.0 PPG, 56.4% FG

I'm rooting for Hayward, but stats like this are misleading.

Hayward just had a huge game where he shot 6/7 from 3, that's 86%!  That's not a trend, that's an anomaly.  If he shoots a still very impressive 3/7  for 43% last night, Hayward would have 17 points.  That still would be a good performance from Hayward, but the C's probably don't get the win, and everyone is a little less excited about Hayward having turned the corner.

But back to the misleading stats.  We're using 6 games from Feb, against 12 in December and 14 in January.  And it's not just any 6 games, but 6 games immediately following a huge game from Hayward.  Coincidentally, he had huge games at the start of Dec and Jan too (scoring 30 and 35, both against Minnesota).  Before the game against Philly, Hayward's stats were only 11.6 ppg, 52% FG for the month of Feb.  Only showing an upward trend in FG%.


If we try to compare apples to apples, and use the first 6 games of Dec, Jan, and Feb (all of which include a big Hayward game), the stats look like this:

Dec: 13.0 ppg, 42% FG.
Jan: 15.2 ppg, 53% FG.
Feb: 14.0 ppg, 56% FG.

FG% still looks good, but points show there's not really a trend.

And we can expand these 6 game samples out even further:

Dec: 13.0 ppg, 42% FG, 50% 3P, 4.7 rpg, 4.8 apg, +/- 52, W/L 4-2
Jan: 15.2 ppg, 53% FG, 45% 3P, 4,0 rpg, 4.3 apg, +/- -8, W/L 4-2
Feb: 14.0 ppg, 56% FG, 56% 3P, 4.5 rpg, 3.3 apg, +/- 53, W/L 4-2

I'm happy for Hayward, but the trends aren't there yet.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Gordon Hayward is trending in the right direction:

December: 10.4 PPG, 37% FG
January: 11.5 PPG, 46.5% FG
February: 14.0 PPG, 56.4% FG

I'm rooting for Hayward, but stats like this are misleading.

Hayward just had a huge game where he shot 6/7 from 3, that's 86%!  That's not a trend, that's an anomaly.  If he shoots a still very impressive 3/7  for 43% last night, Hayward would have 17 points.  That still would be a good performance from Hayward, but the C's probably don't get the win, and everyone is a little less excited about Hayward having turned the corner.

But back to the misleading stats.  We're using 6 games from Feb, against 12 in December and 14 in January.  And it's not just any 6 games, but 6 games immediately following a huge game from Hayward.  Coincidentally, he had huge games at the start of Dec and Jan too (scoring 30 and 35, both against Minnesota).  Before the game against Philly, Hayward's stats were only 11.6 ppg, 52% FG for the month of Feb.  Only showing an upward trend in FG%.


If we try to compare apples to apples, and use the first 6 games of Dec, Jan, and Feb (all of which include a big Hayward game), the stats look like this:

Dec: 13.0 ppg, 42% FG.
Jan: 15.2 ppg, 53% FG.
Feb: 14.0 ppg, 56% FG.

FG% still looks good, but points show there's not really a trend.

And we can expand these 6 game samples out even further:

Dec: 13.0 ppg, 42% FG, 50% 3P, 4.7 rpg, 4.8 apg, +/- 52, W/L 4-2
Jan: 15.2 ppg, 53% FG, 45% 3P, 4,0 rpg, 4.3 apg, +/- -8, W/L 4-2
Feb: 14.0 ppg, 56% FG, 56% 3P, 4.5 rpg, 3.3 apg, +/- 53, W/L 4-2

I'm happy for Hayward, but the trends aren't there yet.

It's extremely arbitrary to only pick the first 5 games of the month to compare. What about games on Tuesdays? What about games on a full moon?

Also, that game might be an anomaly, but so is Smart and Rozier combining for 5-22. It all balances out.

[fairweatherfan]

I mean if we're really getting picky months are arbitrary cutoffs to begin with. Run a regression across all games and see what's up.

[mgent]

Looked great last night.

Until he threw the most careless pass of all time at the most pivotal part of the game.

Problems are apparently mental as well as physical.

I'll agree he's looking better overall vs. 4 months ago.