Kyrie Irving, like everyone else watching Tuesday night, was horrified by teammate Gordon Hayward‘s leg injury six minutes into the first game of the NBA season.
Irving: Hayward injury one of worst I've seen https://t.co/1NKcHv8Fev #Celtics pic.twitter.com/cuSfQlKR62
— ESPNBoston (@ESPNBoston) October 18, 2017
Irving had flashbacks to Paul George snapping his own leg during a 2014 Team USA scrimmage.
The Boston Celtics fought hard without Hayward, but fell 122-121 to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Opening Night.
Per ESPN:
“It’s tough. I’ve seen a few injuries in my career and I’ve had a few,” Irving said. “Probably two of the worst ones I’ve been in the game watching — one was [George] at USA and this one tonight. It’s not a great sight to see, but you gotta pick yourself up. Just keep on fighting, man. We understand that [Hayward], God willing, will be fine, and we’re going to continue to pray for him and be there for him as best we can.”
Like Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James’ mind went to similar injuries.
“I’ve seen a couple of injuries like that in my lifetime,” James said. “I’ve seen Paul George when it happened to Paul. I was watching the game with Shaun Livingston when it happened when he was with the Clippers. I was watching NCAA basketball when Kevin Ware was at Louisville. Those are the injuries that you never seen coming and you never want to happen, no matter who it is, no matter what the stature, no matter how much competitive nature that you have. It’s just very unfortunate.”
