The Boston Celtis’ Robert Williams III played a limited role in his team’s sweep of the Brooklyn … [+]
In a way, we haven’t yet seen the real Boston Celtics this postseason. Today’s Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks should mark the first time in these playoffs that Boston head coach Ime Udoka will be able to break out his true starting lineup. If Robert Williams III is close to his healthy regular-season self, it’s possible that the team Milwaukee will face in the second round will be even more formidable than the one that just swept the Brooklyn Nets.
While Williams recovered from his meniscus injury to the point where he could get on the court in the Celtics’ last two games against the Nets, he was mostly working his way back into full playing shape. In Game 3, he was relatively invisible in 16 minutes of work, scoring just two points and collecting two rebounds. In Game 4, he played 14 minutes and picked up five rebounds, while scoring only three points.
Williams, of course, wasn’t there to rack up the counting stats. The Celtics were mostly trying to feel out what the center can give them defensively. By his own standards, he was a tad off, but the C’s didn’t really need him to make quick work of a Nets team that never recovered mentally from their fourth-quarter collapse in Game 2.
Despite Jaylen Brown having some lingering hamstring issues and Al Horford suffering from what Udoka has downplayed as “regular nicks and bruises from the playoffs,” the Celtics are set to be fully operational come the second round. It has to thrill the Celtics organization that they will finaly have their preferred starting lineup available here in the playoffs.
When the Celtics signed Williams to a four-year, $54 million contract extension during the summer, they were hoping that he would join Jayson Tatum, Brown and Marcus Smart as part of a homegrown core of talent. In that moment they officially went all-in on him as their starting center, even though his clear talents has been obscured by recurring health issues.
Before Williams’ meniscus injury at the end of the regular season, he was proving their faith in him. He played 61 games in his breakthrough 2021-22 season, starting every one while averaging 10.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and an eye-popping 2.2 blocks per game. Meanwhile, his elite defense around the rim was a huge reason why they were the greatest defensive team in the league during the second half of the regular season. It was little wonder that the Celtics had no plans to trade him before the deadline.
Now, against the Bucks, they are going to have to put together that same defensive effort. While the Celtics might be lucking out in not having to face Khris Middleton, they still will have to put together a strategy to limit Giannis Antetokounmpo. Although Horford has traditionally been their key defender against Antetokounmpo in the past, he alone is not going to contain them even with the 35-year-old looked like his younger self during the Nets series.
Writing for NBC Sports, Chris Forsberg has labeled Williams as being likely to at least help Horford when it comes to minimize the 2021 NBA MVP’s damage. It wouldn’t be shocking to see him occasionally fill in for Horford when he’s on the bench or even providing help defense in certain spots, forcing the Bucks to find a reliable second option with Middleton off the table for the foreseeable future.
Even if Williams is operating at full strength, the Bucks will be a tough out for Boston, and there’s no guarantee that he will be. Still, if he can be 90% of the player we saw before his meniscus injury, the Celtics might just have the edge in this series.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hunterfelt/2022/05/01/how-robert-williams-could-be-the-key-for-the-boston-celtics-solving-the-milwaukee-bucks/