Posted on Friday, Jan 25
The Boston Celtics as constituted are a very good team.
Until all-star forward Gordon Hayward recovers his pre-accident form they will not be a great team.

After a long Celtics’ pursuit, on July 14, 2017 The Boston Celtics announced that they signed All-Star forward Gordon Hayward.

One of the most coveted free agents of the off-season, the Celtics lured Hayward away from the Jazz with a max contract and the chance to rejoin his college coach.
At Butler, Stevens (coach) and Hayward (star forward) went to back-to-back NCAA championship games.

A first-time NBA All-Star in 2016-17, Hayward (6-8, 226 lbs.) logged career highs with 21.9 points (47.1% FG, 39.8% 3-PT, 84.4% FT) and 5.4 rebounds, while also adding 3.5 assists, 1.00 steal and 34.5 minutes in 73 games (all starts) with the Jazz last season.

The Indianapolis, IN native was also one of 10 NBA players to produce at least 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists while also shooting 47.0% or better from the field last season.
He was the only NBA player to improve his numbers for seven straight years.

On October 17, 2017,  with 6 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first quarter of the season opener, he left the court on a stretcher after suffering a horrific-looking leg injury a little more than five minutes into his Boston debut on that Tuesday night.
Hayward's left leg bent awkwardly after he went up for an alley-oop pass, collided with LeBron James and collapsed under the basket.

This fall, Celtics fans waited anxiously for Hayward to add that extra lift that would propel the team into the NBA finals.
A year had passed and Hayward was finally practicing with the team, playing in actual games.

A few games into the season, Hayward was demoted to the second team.
And well into the first half of the season, Hayward continues to struggle to find his game.

The Boston Celtics as constituted are a very good team.
Until all-star forward Gordon Hayward recovers his pre-accident form they will not be a great team.

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Tagging Today
Friday, January 25, 2019
My 288th consecutive posting, committed to 5,000.
Time is 12.01am.
On Friday, Boston’s temperature will reach a high of  37* with a feels-like temperature of 30*.

According to the Blog’s Winter Calendar, Jan2 to Feb13, we have only 20 days remaining to our winter.
Hang in.
The next few days will be wintry but no major storms forecast for Boston yet.

Dinner is  Chicken Soup.

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Question of the Day:
January 25
Who is Gordon Hayward?
Answer below.

______________________________
Short takes: Walking in a winter-clad city park.
Part of the title ought to be “when it’s minus 5 degrees.”
The two on the left are shots of the Public Garden.
Even though it’s 12.30pm, the garden usually busy with pedestrians, we see none.
It’s cold.
Not only that, the pathways are barely passable and certainly make a walk-through uncomfortable.
As opposed to the generous sidewalk skirting the park, plowed and sanded.
BTW: the sidewalk is the one I recently got bike-slammed into unconsciousness.
And the far right, some branches that caught my eye.

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Answer to Question of the Day:
Who is Gordon Hayward?

Gordon Daniel Hayward (born March 23, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Hayward attended Brownsburg High School in Brownsburg, Indiana.
He grew from 5'11" (1.80 m) in height as a freshman to 6'8" (2.03 m) as a senior.
Until his growth spurt, Hayward was more successful in tennis, in which sport he was a two-time all-state singles player.

As a Brownsburg High senior in 2007-08, Hayward averaged 18.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
Hayward and teammate Julian Mavunga led Brownsburg to the Indiana Class 4A state championship.
In the title game, Hayward made the game-winning basket at the buzzer to defeat Marion High School 40–39.
Hayward was selected Second-team all-state by AP and First-team all-state by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.
Hayward was selected Indianapolis Star Player of the Year.
Hayward received the IHSAA Arthur L. Trester Award in Class 4A for athletic, academic and mental excellence.
Hayward was selected to represent Indiana in the 2008 Indiana-Kentucky Boys All-Star Game, which Indiana won.

Hayward was an unranked three-star prospect on the recruiting website Rivals.com.

He accepted a scholarship offer from Butler University, coached by Brad Stevens, despite late interest from Purdue and Michigan.
Hayward chose Butler, in part because the early morning basketball practices wouldn't interfere with his plans to major in computer engineering.
Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated suggested Hayward's commitment to both basketball and tennis led to college recruiting services overlooking him as a basketball prospect.
While Hayward verbally committed to Butler in the summer of 2007, he also had a recruiting profile on TennisRecruiting.net, and skipped the summer AAU circuit to practice for his senior tennis season.

He played two seasons of college basketball for Butler University.
In college, Hayward led Butler to the championship game of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

As a freshman in 2008-09, Hayward averaged 13.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
He was named Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, and selected to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team and the All-Horizon League First Team. The Butler Bulldogs won the Horizon League regular season title. In the championship game of the 2009 Horizon League Men's Basketball Tournament, Butler lost to Cleveland State.
Butler received an at-large bid to the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, and lost in the First Round against the LSU Tigers.

In 2009-10, Hayward was nominated for various preseason All-America teams and Player of the Year awards.
Hayward averaged 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore.
The Butler Bulldogs won both the Horizon League regular season title, and the 2010 Horizon League Men's Basketball Tournament.
Hayward was named the Horizon League Player of the Year and selected to the All-Horizon League First Team.
Hayward was also selected AP All-American Honorable Mention and ESPN Third-team Academic All-American.

Butler lost to Duke in the championship game of the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.
In the final seconds, Hayward attempted a game-winning, buzzer-beating, half-court shot, which hit the backboard and rim, and bounced away.
The shot is considered one of the most well-known plays in NCAA tournament history.
Hayward was selected to the All-Tournament Team.

He was selected as the ninth overall pick by the Utah Jazz in the 2010 NBA draft.

In 2017, Hayward was selected an NBA All-Star for the first time.
He played seven seasons in Utah before signing with Boston in 2017.

__________________________________Good morning on this Friday, January 25
We read how important Gordon Hayward’s complete recovery is to the Celtics.
We talked about time and calendar.
We looked at a gallery of short takes, winter is playing out.
We reviewed a capsule of Gordon Hayward.

Time to go.

Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?

See you soon.

Love

Dom