Will Gordon Hayward's Injury Cause 76ers to Change Starting Lineup?

After leaving Monday night's game with an ankle injury, Boston Celtics starting forward Gordon Hayward had to undergo further testing. As it turns out, he's dealing with a Grade 3 ankle sprain. On Tuesday, the Celtics confirmed that Hayward would be re-evaluated in about four weeks, which means he's no longer a factor for the first round in the playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers.

This week, Sixers head coach Brett Brown considered tweaking his starting lineup in search of better defensive matchups. On Sunday afternoon, Brown mentioned he could consider starting Matisse Thybulle, which would've likely sent Al Horford back to come off the bench.

But by the time tip-off rolled around on Monday, Brown stuck to his initial starting lineup, leaving Al Horford at power forward and having Thybulle come off the bench. Now that Hayward is expected to miss the remainder of the series, though, the Celtics are more than likely going to implement a smaller lineup. And because of that, Brown is once again seriously considering a lineup change.

"Two things come to my mind [with Boston losing Gordon Hayward]," Brown mentioned on Tuesday before practice. "One, who will inherit that starting position, because it may influence what we do as far as how we start the game. Secondly, trying to get out in front of the projection, what does that mean? You would assume that Marcus Smart would have far more responsibility and minutes. Just trying to look out a little bit further on both the starting lineup and the ripple effect that injury is going to have on others."

Brown mentioned that if the Celtics do happen to roll with Marcus Smart as Hayward's replacement, then "it's all on the table" in terms of going smaller. "I'm very influenced by and large with just trying to match minutes," Brown explained. "I thought Matisse [Thybulle] did a great job. I thought J-Rich was J-Rich, and we need them to be elite defensively on those two great scorers. Anything is on the table once we've learned about this Gordon Hayward injury."

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_