Williams ready for his Embiid moment
The Celtics simply haven’t been at their best against Joel Embiid, who collects free throws like spare change and has averaged a hair over 10 attempts from the charity stripe per game against them thanks to his dominance in the paint.
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
When the Celtics and 76ers collide tonight in Game 1 of their first round NBA playoff series, the trio of Daniel Theis, Enes Kanter and Rob Williams will be on constant rotation while Embiid is on the floor.
Minus the surgically-eliminated Ben Simmons, the Sixers rotate around Embiid’s excellence and power even more. And the Celtics’ vulnerabilities against active big men considered, the paint will be a combustible point throughout the series.
For Williams, the test couldn’t be tougher. The second-year center seems to have turned a corner in the Orlando bubble, with Embiid the ultimate matchup for the young big man.
“Theis and Enes have played against Joel Embiid for awhile. They tell me the little tricks he likes to use – not to give him too much space,” said Williams. “Can’t wait for him to come meet you, you have to go meet him first. When they see me mess up in practice they tell me to get it right, because Embiid will take advantage of that. I feel they’ve been doing a good job of that.
“For a guy like me, not Enes Kanter, not particularly strong down there with those guys, just have to do your work early (against Embiid),” he said. “You can’t let him get to his money spots, get to his sweet spots. Just make him work as much as you can.”
Fortunately for Williams, he’s finally reached that all-important point where the game has slowed down, at both ends.
“Just locking in on personnel and what a team wants,” said Williams. “If I’m on a guard, knowing which way a guy likes to drive, or not going for a pump fake. Just locking in mentally on that stuff is going to help me most.”
Langford wants to play
Romeo Langford, despite torn ligaments in his right wrist, practiced yesterday, and later reported to coaches that he felt “fine.” After playing through his freshman season at Indiana with torn thumb ligaments, and encountering more injury trouble early in his Celtics tenure, the rookie forward clearly doesn’t want to miss out now.
It remains to be seen whether he can actually play.
“I don’t know yet,” Brad Stevens said of Langford’s potential availability. “I’ll talk to the training staff more about that. But Romeo (practiced) and said he felt fine.”
Creating energy
The absence of fans may deprive players of a form of external energy, but the task without a crowd, according to Stevens, is to focus even more, if such a thing is possible with the Celtics coach.
“Our whole deal since we’ve been here is we have to create our own energy, we have to make sure we’re on top of everything we need to be on top of,” said Stevens. “I can tell that there’s a heightened level of detail as we enter our playoff prep, and I’m sure every team is that way. So as far as preparation goes and as far as we’ve thought about it moving forward, we’ve treated it just like every other playoff game that we’ve prepared for. We’re now eight games into this, including exhibition games we’re 11 games into this. We’ve got a good idea of the environment and what it feels like to play in front of no fans.”