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“I just saw it this morning,” the Celtics forward said Tuesday before going for 15 points in a 116-106 win over the Cavs. “I feel so bad for the guy, He’s having a tremendous year. I feel bad for the Blazers, too. I mean, these things happen. Ironically on this court it happened. From what I saw, it looked kind of more like (Paul George‘s) injury, a little less like mine. I think his is just a compound fracture, so nothing with the ankle or anything, which is good news. It’ll be a long road for him, but, for sure, he can work his way out of it.”

Hayward’s coach had flashbacks, as well.

“I did not see it,” Brad Stevens said of the Nurkic injury. “I heard about it. I feel for him. That’s brutal. It was kind of one of those situations like here, where we all saw the wind go out of the arena. I’ll never forget, like, the rest of that quarter didn’t really matter in the big picture. We were all focused on that, and then the game resumes. Inevitably the game will eventually resume, but the challenge that he has is what Gordon I’m sure has already shared with you is that it’s just a long, hard, arduous rehab. The good news is he’s got great support in Portland. He’s got great players and teammates and coaches and I’m sure a training staff. So our thoughts are with him in a quick recovery.”

Hayward is now used to being asked about such matters, and such was the case when Victor Oladipo and Caris LeVert suffered hard-to-watch injuries this season.

“It is what it is,” he said. “Hopefully I can be some inspiration for some people that you can come back. It takes a lot of work, but it’s definitely possible and blesses with modern technology, I guess, and all that they can do to help us get back.”

But, no doubt, Hayward would rather have his name attached to something glorious like a 360-degree dunk.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” he said. “A game-winning shot or something to win the NBA Finals.”

Then he could get asked about it every time someone repeats the feat.

“There you go,” Hayward said. “I’d like that more.”

Tuesday’s game against the Cavaliers was his second back after missing three in the NBA’s concussion protocol. Hayward was shaken up when he ran into a John Collins pick in the Celts’ March 16 win over Atlanta.

“That’s the first, I think, concussion that I think that I’ve had,” he said. “I mean, I’ve certainly been hit in the head before, but that’s the first, like, diagnosed concussion, so I didn’t really know what was going on with some of the recovery. And a lot of it’s just rest, so there’s not much that you can do, and they just want to make sure you’re being careful with any type of head injury these days.

“I think we didn’t want to call it a concussion right away, because we didn’t know. And certainly when I got hit, I was out of it for a little bit. Kyrie (Irving) said I started walking the wrong direction and he was yelling at me, but I had to lay down for a little bit. A lot of things were spinning. It wasn’t that fun.”

IRVING STAYS HOME

Irving didn’t make the trip here, getting a planned game off for rest. Since forcing his way out of Cleveland, he has played here just once — opening night in 2018 when he made the pass that preceded Hayward’s injury.

Said Stevens of Irving’s absence, “Obviously it comes at a tough time when you’re sitting on a four-game losing streak and not playing as well as we’d like. But I think obviously we talked about it. He’s played a pretty significant amount since the All-Star break, and we want to make sure going in (to the postseason) that we’re as fresh as possible, and his freshness is key.”

As for whether that losing run made him rethink the plan to rest Irving, Stevens said, “I think it’s hard to make decisions based on those circumstances when you’re taking about long-term health and ultimately what you want to accomplish. It doesn’t make you feel any better when you’re losing, and that makes it tough. That’s why every one of these games really matters, and the one that just sits in your stomach (is) when you lose that lead in Charlotte, because maybe you play better Sunday and maybe you’re not in this situation. But ultimately we did, and it is the situation, and now we’re playing a Cleveland team that’s fully healthy and been awfully good recently.”

GET IT TOGETHER

As they head home to face Indiana Friday, the Celtics have just seven games left before the playoffs and are still trying to get their act together.

“The biggest issues that we’ve had have clearly been a consistency and a connectedness throughout the season,” Stevens said. “That’s been obvious. So can we get closer to that? We’ve only got two weeks left before the playoffs start, and that’s a challenge.

“To me, I think you build that stuff better if you really guard people, and we have yet to really guard people recently, and so that’s a huge, huge focus as we head into the stretch here.”

Aron Baynes made the surprise start for the Celtics in Boston’s 116-106 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, sending Marcus Morris to the bench to open the night. Baynes played a season-high 25 minutes, though he didn’t do much to fill up the stat sheet: 2 for 2 shooting, four points, two rebounds.

But Baynes isn’t in there to post numbers. The big man protects the paint and is better suited to help certain big men over Al Horford. Having them both in the lineup clogs things up on the defensive end, making it hard for opponents to get to the rack.

Horford told reporters it’s “one of the strengths” of the Celtics after the win.

We have a lot of guys that are versatile that could play multiple positions and I think it plays to some of our advantage(s). So I think that’s good. Other times it’s good to go smaller and coach felt like it was important we went big tonight.

With Cleveland trotting out Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, Baynes provided the help Horford needed to effectively stifle the pair. They held Cleveland’s big men to a combined 17 points.

helps me a lot. He’s a great defender, always protecting the rim. It was good to play with him and I got to play with him a little more tonight than usual.