It feels so distant now that it’s almost like a sad relic from a different season. So much has happened since, most of it good, some of it great. But of course it really was this year that a certain hideous injury threatened to ruin the Celtics’ best-laid plans before the first quarter of the first game was complete.
The Celtics have proved their resilience, mettle, and what we used to call Ubuntu around here time and again in the 66 games since prized free-agent acquisition Gordon Hayward landed after a botched alley-oop only to discover his left foot pointing in a grossly unnatural direction.