Kyrie Irving will be ditching his mask this weekend, leftover Bucks thoughts

Kyrie Irving has played the best basketball of his Celtic career while wearing a protective mask over the past few weeks, but that won't stop the All-Star point guard from ditching the hardware when his face is fully healed this weekend.

"Four weeks," Irving said when asked about when he can dump the mask. "So I think Saturday, the countdown begins...I'm ready to take that s*** off. I've been ready to take it off since I wore it."

Irving has played 10 and a half games with the mask over the past three-plus weeks. After ditching the mask during the second half against the Golden State Warriors, Irving has been sensational with it on,

averaging 28.9 points on 57 percent shooting over his last nine games.

The healing process has been progressing for the guard as well, as the Celtics have surged offensively with him finding his groove over the past few weeks.

"The cheek feels good," he said after Monday's win. "My daughter’s not hitting me in the face anymore."

A couple other leftover thoughts after the victory over the Bucks

Semi Ojeleye continues to impress

Brad Stevens had some high praise for the rookie forward on Monday as he played double-digit minutes again trying to contain Giannis Antetokounmpo and other elite pieces of the Bucks roster.

"First of all, he's a very capable 3-point shooter and he's a guy you have to guard out there," Stevens explained. "He's going to draw attention. On the other end, I think he can be elite defensively and I'm not sure he's far from it now. He's able to guard 1-5. He guarded Booker for a couple possessions the other day and I was kicking myself for not trying it earlier. He just has a great base, strength and lateral athleticism that's very unique."

The old starting lineup on ice for now?

Stevens insisted that Marcus Morris will get periodic starts this year in certain matchups earlier this week, but it's hard to ignore how much the head coach has gone away from his most used starting five (Irving/Brown/Tatum/Morris/Horford) over the past three games. That unit has played together for just one minute of court time since Stevens went back to Aron Baynes in the starting five. A lot of that can be dictated by matchups, but it's evident that the C's are happy to keep that group broken up for the time being. The numbers indicate that's a good idea.