Celtics upgrade Gordon Hayward ahead of Game 2 vs. Heat

By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com

Celtics forward Gordon Hayward, who has missed the last 11 postseason contests due to an ankle injury, has been upgraded to 'doubtful' for Boston's Game 2 head-to-head with the Miami Heat, the team announced Wednesday.

It's not the most uplifting update, and the odds of the 'doubtful' status would indicate that Hayward most likely remains out of action for the 12th straight contest, but it's progress in what's been a month-long absence for No. 20. This upgrade from out to doubtful likely spells good news when it comes to Hayward's status for Saturday's Game 3 or Monday's Game 4, too.

The Celtics still expect to get Hayward back sometime in this third-round series with the Heat, of course, which got off a rocky start with a 117-114 overtime loss in Game 1 and put the C's in a hole for the first time all postseason.

And there's no doubt that the Green want Hayward back in action as soon as possible.

With Kemba Walker struggling to knock down shots, and with teams absolutely keying in on him whenever possible, having the 6-foot-7 Hayward back on the floor would give the Celts another weapon for teams to account for, and give Boston their true 'super team' look of weapons and position-less basketball. That would obviously help cancel out some of Miami's potential depth scoring advantages (hello, Tyler Herro), and more importantly create the potential for better looks from Walker, Jayson Tatum, or even Hayward (12 points in his lone 2020 postseason appearance) himself.

Hayward averaged 17.5 points, and set career-highs in rebounds per game (6.7) and field goal percentage (50 percent), in 52 games during the 2019-20 regular season.