Gordon Hayward played the most minutes of his Celtics career on Friday night against the Toronto Raptors, playing 39 minutes in an overtime game in which Boston pulled out a win over the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors.
After that performance, some figured Hayward would be under a minutes restriction, or even sit out for Saturday night’s game. After all, Hayward had played just one back-to-back before, and that was last week against the Utah Jazz. In those contests, Hayward was limited to playing just 24 minutes.
But Celtics coach Brad Stevens told the media Saturday that Hayward’s minutes restriction has been lifted.