Early return in for Williams
C’s center beats projected timeline after knee surgery
NEW YORK — Though he didn’t have any 5-on-5 time to get ready, Robert Williams returned from left knee surgery Saturday night against Brooklyn.
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
And from what all concerned could tell about the Celtics center, whose contributions turned them into an elite defensive unit this season, the young center is moving well again, a mere 23 days since having surgery to repair a torn meniscus. He had originally been given an estimated return timeline of from four to six weeks, but has been cleared for action in just three-and-a-half weeks.
“From what I’ve seen — I haven’t seen too much — but from what I’ve seen he’s looked great,” said Marcus Smart. “But with injuries it’s all up to the guy’s body. We could sit here and say everything looks fine, you’re good, the four-week, the six-week, or whatever week the doctors give you hits and you may not still be feeling good. So ultimately it comes down to Rob and how he feels and everything he’s doing.
“First off, it’s a good sign,” he added of Williams’ return. “It lets us know everything with his injury is copasetic, went well with the surgery. He’s doing a really good job, and the fact that he’s making strides to get back shows he’s doing everything the right way, the rehab to get back. So it definitely means a lot to us, him doing that, and taking strong to his rehab to get back to it shows us how serious he is and how bad he wants to be there with us and we can’t wait to have him out there.”
The plan
Ime Udoka started the game with a plan to play Williams somewhere in the vicinity of 20 minutes, off the bench, and in short spurts until the center shows he can tolerate more.
One important indicator, according to Udoka, was Williams’ ability to workout with a minimum of pain and swelling.
“He’s met every benchmark and has had no problems, restrictions, no swelling, pain,” said the Celtics coach. “And so after the heavy sessions, he’s felt really good and so that was kind of what led up to it. And I would say even before this week he was progressing well at all points.”
Coping with the Time Lord’s absence
Somewhat remarkably, the Celtics have held their own defensively in Rob Williams’ absence, after the mini tempest caused by the Nets’ Bruce Brown, who surmised that the combination of Al Horford and Daniel Theis would be more vulnerable to attack without the so-called Timelord patrolling the back line.
“We can take it to another step with him, but that’s what our group is in general,” said Udoka. “We’ve bought into that identity, and that’s the value of Theis and Grant and those guys coming in and not having much drop-off. He adds a layer to that, but the standard we won’t to play at doesn’t deviate based on one guy. The other guys have stepped up and looked pretty good in those roles.”
Grant Williams, who has helped fill in those defensive gaps, isn’t surprised.
“Honestly I don’t remember what Bruce fully said, we’ve done a good job now of controlling the paint and being physical,” he said. “It’s been one of the most physical series in the league so far during the playoffs, so it’s exciting to see that we’re battling and competing and winning this past two games, those past two battles. But it’s a war so we have to continue to do that. Game 3’s different, hostile environment on the road. So we have to come out and be not only physical, but you have to come out and execute
your game plan exactly what you’re supposed to do. Because like they say in the playoffs, every possession matters. But it’s also heightened on the road because, yes, we are going to have Celtics fans tonight, but it’s different having to guard them here versus our place. So we have to do our best to keep that same mentality and execute one step at a time.”
The gory truth
As it turns out, Jaylen Brown wasn’t just looking on
in admiration of Marcus Smart’s left hand following his left-handed drive against the Nets in Game 2. Smart was still playing despite a painful situation involving his left thumbnail.
“My nail actually cut in half and came all the way back, so we had to pretty much snap my nail back. You can kind of see it right now still,” he said, offering to bend the nail back for the assembled media. “As you can see it’s cracked and it’s still trying to come off. Literally it was all the way back here and we had to
pull it back, so it was just gushing blood. You can kind of see the meat on the inside. It’s all right. I’m all right.
“We don’t want to cover it up too much. We want to try to let it heal. During the game I’ll have something on it though.”
The thumb injury also played into a running argument the teammates have had about who has the better left hand.
“There’s no conversation — it’s me,” Smart said, before adding of the Game 2 play, “It was a great play. It
goes back to our growth. JT drives the ball, could’ve taken the shot. I expected him to shoot it. Three seconds on the clock, six feet away from the basket with a shorter defender. He makes a play out to me and I make that play with my left hand, especially after what just happened to my thumb and everything. It was an unbelievable play. JB, he just kept edging it on and prolonged that little celebrated. I was just telling my left hand, ‘You a bad dude.’ JB came over and he agreed with me.”