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Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON — Celtics guard Kemba Walker will return to the lineup Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks after missing the prior three games with left knee soreness.
“I feel pretty good,” Walker said Friday morning following the team’s morning shootaround. “It’s much improved. I’m going to try to give it a go tonight.”
Celtics coach Brad Stevens said that Walker is going to be on a minutes restriction of about 30 against the Hawks, after he played over 35 minutes in each of the three games prior to his sitting out.
Walker, though, said that the games off did him a lot of good.
“It did,” he said. “Just rested, [got] a lot of treatment, [and] some strengthening, as well. Just trying to get back right.”
Missing games is a new thing for Walker, who had missed six games combined over the past four seasons, but has already missed eight games this year — the first he played anywhere but in Charlotte over the course of his NBA career, and in the first season of a four-year max contract he signed with the Celtics this summer.
And while he admitted it isn’t easy to watch, he’s been glad to see the Celtics reel off three straight victories while he’s sat this week, and go 6-2 overall while he’s been sidelined this season.
“I wouldn’t say embracing [sitting out],” he said. “It’s really just being smart about things. But I think it’s definitely helped me. It’s good to get some rest and just kind of just get back mentally a little bit. It’s good. And the team is playing really well while I’ve been out so that’s been good as well.
“I’m just, for me, when I sit out, I don’t want my team to play (bad) because then I really feel bad. I want them to play well while I’m out because when they lose when I’m out I feel like it’s my fault a lot. So yeah, I’m definitely excited that they can play really well without me. That’s good. Especially for these guys’ confidence, the young guys. It gives other guys opportunities to get out there, work on their games, just get better.”
In addition to Walker, Marcus Smart will also return to the lineup Friday night after sitting out the prior two games after getting kneed in the quad during Saturday night’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Daniel Theis and Jaylen Brown each will remain out with right ankle sprains, though, and Gordon Hayward will sit for the first time in over a month with a sore left foot, an injury that has nagged at him throughout the season.
“Just a number of nagging things,” Stevens said of Hayward’s absence. “He’s the one guy that since Christmas Day has played in every game. Everybody else has gotten an organic rest because of the injuries. So one of the things, he’s probably been due the last couple of games to miss one. These things never work out well, because you want to have everyone available, but that’s more of a conservative … make sure that we’re all good throughout this stretch. This stretch has been quite a stretch for the guys that have played all the way through it.”