Gordon Hayward ‘all smiles’ entering Celtics’ opening night (video)

BOSTON — It’s been a long time coming for Gordon Hayward.

One year removed from a season-ending injury, Tuesday’s home opener against the Sixers will be a memorable night for Hayward. He spoke briefly about Tuesday night’s game following a Celtics youth girls charity event hosted by Hayward and his wife Robyn.

“For the first game, it’s just going to be all smiles to be playing out there in front of the home fans,” Hayward said. “Just being on the court again after what I went through; it’s going to be a good first-step for me. I’m just extremely excited.”

With no expectations or goals set for the first game of the season, Hayward said he’ll be blasting Eminem’s newest album Kamikaze before he takes the floor in his first regular season game. He also talked about reuniting with his college head coach Brad Stevens once again and how significant this season will be for him and his head coach.

“I know it was tough on him [Stevens] as well last year because we had talked so much about how he was going to utilize me in the team,” Hayward explained. “I know he knew how excited I was to play for Boston. I know that was hard for him to go through and he had to completely change his game plan and what he was going to do.

“Fast forward to the following summer and it was like doing it all over again. So I’m really excited about what we can do this year. We have a lot of work but it’ll be a lot of fun.”

Interview conducted by Josue Pavon for CLNS & CelticsBlog- October 13, 2018