BOSTON — Robert Williams III returned to the floor after halftime despite missing the previous game with an ankle injury and the Celtics leading by 34 points in a game Kyrie Irving said effectively ended in the first quarter.
Boston’s early 30-point advantage, the first to ever stand through a first quarter, allowed for one of Williams III’s most assertive efforts ever. Minutes into the third quarter, he caught an entry pass in the post against Royce O’Neale, fired a pass to Al Horford in the corner, who threw it right back. Williams III turned, posted, twisted and hit a jump hook. A rarity.
“I gotta start being an outlet, a trigger person,” Williams III told CLNS Media. “Reading where I fit into the game, being able to space defense, knowing when to do it, just reading my teammates … me being able to score those little jump hooks or the put back layups is giving our scorer’s a break and on the schedule we need those.”
Williams III’s 16 points and nine rebounds on 7-for-8 shooting in 19 minutes marked his most efficient and aggressive outing since returning from offseason knee surgery. It also followed a left ankle injury in last week’s game against the Knicks that sidelined him for the win over the Lakers. Three days off allowed him to recover by Tuesday and his contributions to the team’s blistering first quarter over Brooklyn both allowed Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to catch extra rest in the second half, and continue to dream about what Williams III could become.
As Williams III emerged on the All-Defensive Second Team last season, his trainer acknowledged his offense remained a work in progress. He thrived on dunks and his budding offensive rebounding game gave him another outlet for easy baskets around the rim. Williams III passed Rudy Gobert for more games in NBA history spent shooting above 50% from the field and his 73.3% career shooting will blow away Cedric Maxwell’s career mark (54.6%) once he reaches the number of attempts to qualify. Diversifying his offensive game could bring that down to earth while also making him more dangerous. That’ll come. For now, the Celtics just want him to be assertive.
“He’s a huge key to our offense if we want to get to where we want to get to,” Joe Mazzulla told CLNS. “He’s doing a better job of understanding how teams are guarding him with the coverages, and how to play against it. Tonight, I don’t think he let anyone go under, and so every screen, (Brooklyn) had to go over. He sealed. He created gaps. He created small two-on-ones, did a good job against smalls on the offensive glass and he really helped our switch attack. I think for our offense to get to another level, he’s gotta be dynamic as far as his screening against different coverages and his ability to score down there and I thought he showed that tonight.”
Williams III scored the first basket of the game cutting to the rim as Nic Claxton abandoned him to help on Brown, who drove past Joe Harris, met Claxton and dumped the ball to Williams III for a running two-handed slam. Nobody bothered him again as he walked to the rim, tapped Al Horford’s turnaround miss in the air, Williams III’s only miss of the night, and caught it again on its way down to put it back in easily. He blocked O’Neale and tossed Tatum’s miss in off the back board minutes later. Boston shot ahead 21-4 through his first stint.
Fans gave Williams III standing ovations each night when he entered off the bench, returning from offseason surgery that cost him 29 games on Dec. 16. On Jan. 9, he returned to the starting lineup and reunited with Horford, who he rarely played with prior, for a win over Chicago. He’s averaging 8.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 blocks per game in 26.3 minutes per game since, logging 19 in Wednesday’s blowout, but acknowledging his conditioning returned to where it needed to be in recent weeks. Malcolm Brogdon and teammates know they’re still not seeing quite the same Williams III they did one year ago though.
“I think when you have a guy with such great instincts, such great athleticism and is so unselfish, I think he has a super high ceiling, and Rob’s still young. I think he’s just trying to get to 100%, I’m not sure he’s 100%,” Brogdon said. “He’s incredibly talented. I think we’re only seeing a piece of him now, he’s working his way back in off injury, he’s still on a minutes restrictions, there are a lot of factors going into how he’s performing every night. He’s playing at a really high level, he’s playing really well right now and he’s just going to get more and more comfortable and become more and more of a centerpiece on offense.”
For that to happen, teammates need to both emphasize Williams III, who Ime Udoka said last year the team didn’t always do a good job finding offensively, and the big man needs to command the ball more. Tatum acknowledged Williams III plays a pass-first style, a good fit for their offense that’s averaging 118.1 points per 100 possessions while he plays, third best on the team, but that also puts him in positions where he could score and doesn’t.
Tatum and Horford encourage Williams III to play aggressively when he catches the ball in the seams, take an extra dribble and finish over or past a defender. He called the big man’s ceiling unlimited.
“It’s just continuing to figure out where he can to places to be effective and put himself in position to make plays,” Horford told CLNS at shootaround on Wednesday. “Rob has that ability, so what that means for him is to be able to play in the seams when he catches it, or whether it’s going to set a pick-and-roll for somebody and then rolling to the basket to create pressure on the rim. Him finding his space is different than what I can do.”
Injuries always loom large over his ability to perform and even take the floor. Team medical staff constantly ask Williams III how he’s feeling and even though he doesn’t want to sub out, they managed him cautiously this season in hopes he can play in a full postseason.
That’s balanced against getting repetitions in with his teammates, finding comfort and flow in an offense he acknowledged is different than the one he played in one year ago. He owns the tools to thrive in it, and an excellent screening game on Wednesday gave him something to build on.
“I feel like the ceiling, for me is,” Williams said. “There’s no ceiling. Especially with the teammates that I have. Through my injuries this year, they really helped me, standing by my side and going back to the jump hooks or the little jump shots, they encourage it. They encourage me to be who I am.”
