Timeout for Time Lord
Knee issue causes Robert Williams to miss Game 4
MILWAUKEE >> As quickly as Robert Williams returned from left knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, there was always the possibility that swelling and soreness would follow at some point this spring.
The return of said soreness and swelling was enough to keep Williams out of Game 4 Monday night in Fiserv Forum. But according to Ime Udoka, the Celtics center isn’t expected to miss much time due to the flare-up.
“It’s not unexpected to have this after a surgery, but it’s been soreness at times and just a little more irritated today than usual,” said the Celtics coach. “So they took a look at it, tried to warm him up. But in between other games, he’s had some natural soreness and just was a little worse today. So not much more to test, just pain tolerance and flexion.
“Just kind of flared up and kind of out of nowhere and didn’t really feel anything yesterday or during the game, it wasn’t an incident, so a little flare-up and got irritated. Tried to warm up and didn’t feel good enough.”
Asked if Williams was expected to be ready for Game 5 on Wednesday in Boston, Udoka said, “Yeah we would expect so. Like
I said he’s had some natural soreness after upping his minutes in intensity, and so, like I said, not unexpected after a surgery but you just expect it to calm down and get back out there for next game.”
Theis returns
Daniel Theis, who had played a total of seven minutes over the first three games of the series, figured to play a much larger role in Game 4. Grant Williams was given the start in place of Rob.
“He held it down while (Williams) was out and specifically can go back to the Milwaukee game, one of the last games of the year, he played extremely well here,” said Udoka. “So he’s a guy that — I wouldn’t say insurance policy — but a guy we’ve very comfortable plugging in in situations. He’s obviously different than Rob but shouldn’t miss a beat with some of the things he does on both ends.”
Budenholzer tries to remember
Though they spent one season together (2012-13) on Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio staff before Mike Budenholzer left to take his first head coaching job in Atlanta, the Bucks coach had trouble Monday night recalling Udoka as a fellow assistant. Budenholzer better remembers Udoka as a player.
“I played for them for 2½ years so I knew him, obviously, coming in. But just to see him behind the scenes, how meticulous he was about things. We all have different personalities as coaches, but Brett Brown was there as well and went to Philly, so I kind of interned under them my first year with Pop, obviously,” said Udoka. “Just learned how quirky he is, and different and I got to know him well. But to see how he works behind the scenes, and some of the debates with him were classic, a guy that thinks he knows everything.
“Arguments all the time. Pop loved those and Bud and Brett every meeting went at it. So I was a firstyear guy kind of absorbing that. So I just watched them argue every day, and Pop enjoyed it as well. So, 12 and 18 years together, and they went at it every day.”
Holiday a physical challenge
As the Celtics have been reminded in this series, Jrue Holiday is one of the most physical scoring guards in the NBA.
“He’s a physical guard that enjoys the contact,” said Udoka. “Smaller guards struggle with him, but he doesn’t differentiate big wings and big men, tries to go at everyone the same.
“But when you look at his numbers we’ve been really good on him as well,” he said. “He has some ones that stand out for big buckets late, like last night, but he took 30 shots to get 27 points yesterday. In other games it’s been 20 shots to get 19 points. So overall we’re defending him well. But that’s his game, he wants to feel your body, kind of hit guys, and he’s been that way his whole career. Gotta be ready to embrace that physicality and know he’s gonna come at you like that. Just take the challenge in general, but he doesn’t differentiate small guards, bigs and big wings. That’s the way he’s always played.”