Kelly Olynyk followed hockey code like a champ Wednesday night… until his post-game scrum.
The Boston Celtics centre played through a severely bruised and swollen left eye, scoring a team-high 19 points and helping his team defeat the Indiana Pacers 100-87 at TD Garden.
But when meeting with reporters after the victory, the Canadian (wearing a Toronto Blue Jays hat) let slip a closely guarded Boston Bruins secret while explaining why he played with just one good eye.
Top-scoring Bruins defenceman Dougie Hamilton is dealing with broken ribs.
“I remember two days ago I was texting Dougie Hamilton, and he told me he broke his ribs and he’s trying to come back before the playoffs,” said Olynyk, who took an elbow to the face and needed four stitches.
“I was like, man, I can’t sit out. He’s gonna rip me. All those hockey guys would have killed me, so I had to do it.”
Hamilton’s injury had previously fallen under the vague category of “upper-body,” and his return was said to be indefinite.
The 21-year-old blue-liner hasn’t played since March 21 and has missed the last five games.
Now we know why.
Bruins general manager responded to Olynyk’s inside dish Thursday morning:
And coach Claude Julien found some humour in the incident:
