Gordon Hayward is back — maybe. Right?

He was the best player on the floor in the Boston Celtics’ 119-113 win over the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Tuesday. Kemba Walker was excellent, and has probably been Boston’s best player so far this season. But Hayward put together a staggeringly complete game and was the biggest reason why the Celtics put away a lesser Cavs team.

Boston’s star had 39 points (which ties a career high), 17 made field goals (career high), eight assists (season high), seven rebounds and two turnovers. He didn’t miss from inside the arc, and even made up for a teammate’s miss at a crucial moment. Hayward hit a game-sealing putback on Kemba Walker’s missed 3-point shot with 25 seconds left in the game.

So I’m wondering, you’re wondering, we’re all wondering…

*whispers*: Is Gordon Hayward back? Really back?

“I don’t think about ,” a bristly Hayward told reporters after the game on Tuesday, via NBC Sports Boston. “I haven’t thought about it for a while. Hopefully you guys can stop asking me questions about that.”

But it’s only natural to ask Hayward about how the leg feels, given how dramatic the injury looked when it happened in his first game with the Celtics back in 2017. And observers have said, ever since he returned, that he appears hindered by the lingering affects of the injury.

“Confident” might be the most important word there. He rarely looked confident — let alone comfortable — for sustained stretches last year. Every time he seemed to be “back” last year, his game would hit a lull — or he’d go into an outright slump. So far this season, though, Hayward has averaged 20.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists while shooting 56.5% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line. He has 20-plus points in three of the Celtics’ six games, and has double-digit scoring in five of six games. Perhaps equally important — given the Celtics’ injuries to start the season — Hayward has five or more rebounds in every game this season.

But we’ve only seen six games. He hasn’t quite generated a large enough sample size to absolutely trust the numbers. Jaylen Brown’s return could also complicate Hayward’s scoring production, and Enes Kanter’s return will probably ease Hayward’s work on the glass. That would make for a natural regression. But will he regress further?

There were signs at the end of last season that Hayward was rounding into form. He had double-digit scoring in 12 of 14 games to conclude the season. And from December to April, his field goal percentage improved progressively from 37% (his worst month of the season) to 55.6% in March and 65% in April (albeit in just four regular seasons games). Then the playoffs arrived, and Hayward’s production wasn’t the same (12.3 png, 5 rpg, 1.8 app, 49.2% from the field, 37.5% from 3).

Hayward seems to have come a far way from those performances. And he needs to keep distancing himself from them.

Hayward may not want to talk about the ankle — and who could blame him? — but his injury remains a relevant talking point because he’s at his best, as Stevens said, when he’s willing and able to attack the basket and work from there. That’s the key to his game, enabling him to create open space for him and his teammates.

So while Hayward may say he doesn’t think about his ankle, his too-often passive play suggests otherwise. He needs to continue to show that there’s no hesitation in his game before we can say he’s finally, truly all the way back.