At the start of the season, the Boston Celtics looked in a really promising position to challenge with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Eastern Conference title once more with the additions of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.

However, that all appeared to go down the drain in the season opener against the Cavaliers, as Hayward suffered what turned out to be a season-ending injury after he landed awkwardly on his leg after going up for an alley-oop pass by Irving.

It was a tough blow for the Celtics, but their young core of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown stepped up to the plate and performed well enough to remain as one of the top teams in the East. Even though Irving was out for the playoffs, the team still managed a Conference Finals finish in the playoffs.

Blame

Speaking recently on The Bill Simmons Podcast, via Clutch Sports, Kyrie took some time to reflect back on Gordon's scary fall which ended his season. He said that he takes part of the blame for his injury because he threw the pass to him for the alley-oop when he wasn't really open.

The point guard said: “I’m the one that threw the pass for the alley-oop, and I was just like holding on to that for a while. I’ll take part of the responsibility because he wasn’t really open — I saw D-Wade (Dwyane Wade) over there … He just came down wrong, and I was like, ‘Ah, f.’”

“I just was pissed. I was pissed for our team and, more or less, for Gordon. He was just now getting to start a rhythm in preseason. It was just tough.”

“I’m still sick about it. Because we had a really good training camp, like a really good training camp.”

Irving is being a little bit harsh on himself here, as there's really not a lot he can do about Hayward's landing back on the court once he leaves the ground. 

With both Irving and Hayward now closer than ever towards making a return to the court, as well as their promising young core, many believe Boston are the favourites to capture the Eastern Conference crown next season.

The question now will be whether or not the Celtics can convince their point guard to sign a new contract extension and stay with the team beyond next season.

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