Celtics, Cavs react to Gordon Hayward's injury

CLEVELAND -- The mood was somber and the game was almost an afterthought in the wake of a devasting left leg injury suffered by Gordon Hayward on Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena. LeBron James and Isaiah Thomas even reportedly left the Cavs bench during the first half to send well wishes to Hayward in the Celtics locker room before he was transported by ambulance to the airport.

Here's a collection of reaction to Hayward's injury from both teams after the Cavs' 102-99 win on opening night.

Brad Stevens: "I don't have any magic words for that. I mean, you're all hurting for him. I'm not going to try to take the human element out of it...He's put in a lot of great work. And I thought he had his most comfortable week as far as feeling like he was going to play really well. But now we'll hopefully get a full recovery, right? And so it's a tough deal, but I guess that's part of it: the risk of injury. I really feel for him."

Al Horford: "We were very excited to have him really flourish and he had a great week of practice. Everything was great. This is a setback for him, but for us we have to keep encouraging him. He needs to take his time, get well. And knowing Gordon like I know him, I know he'll be focused and he'll come back. Hopefully he comes back when he's ready, and at the right time. But he's a big part of our team."

Kyrie Irving: "I mean, it's tough. I've seen a few injuries in my career and I've had a few and I've seen a few. Probably two of the worst ones I've been in the game watching -- one was at USA (Paul George) 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 he, God willing, will be fine and we're going to continue to pray for him and be there for him as best we can."

Jaylen Brown: "It's tough. Gordon is a leader of our team, and going into the season we leaned on him a lot. Now we just have to come together even more and just try to be a better team until he comes back. But it's tough being out there to see something like that. I hope he recovers as best as he can."

Brown on how Celtics handled the injury initially: "Semi (Ojeleye) led us through a prayer for Gordon, hoping everything was all right and he could bring us together during this time, and for him and his family, just to be there for him."

Jayson Tatum: "Just seeing that happen, it was tough on all of us. You never want to see anything like that to happen to anybody, especially one of your guys. We prayed for him. We prayed for his health and told each other we have to stick together and keep pushing."

LeBron James: "My thoughts and prayers go out to Gordon and his family. I hope for a speedy recovery and a healthy recovery. I've seen a couple injuries like that in my lifetime. 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 see 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."

Kevin Love: "More than anything, we'll all keep our prayers with him and hope that he has a speedy recovery. Because he means a lot to this league. Great player, great dude. And it's sad. You never want to see a play like that, someone go down like that. He's in my prayers. And now we just hope for the best, that he recovers really quick."