Getty Grant Williams, Boston Celtics
As the Boston Celtics swept the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs, people began to anoint them as potential champions once the post-season reaches its conclusion.
However, easily defeating one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference could be a bad thing, considering the Celtics are a young team and could easily start to believe their own hype. Luckily, Ime Udoka is a demanding coach and will be doing everything in his power to keep his player’s feet on the ground.
When speaking to the media in a recent press conference, Grant Williams took the time to ensure he echoed a similar sentiment, noting how the Bucks are going to be a far more physical team than the Nets, and that Boston would need to be ready to deal with the inevitable onslaught.
“I feel like a big difference is how Milwaukee gets out in transition, they’re one of the best team’s in the league at it, if not the best, so it’s just a matter of getting back and setting our defense, making sure they have to score through us, and we’re not giving them open looks. And then taking away the three-point line to their shooters, in the Brooklyn series we did a good job of loading the paint up and focusing on those two guys, and daring other guys to shoot it, but now, we’ve got to take those guys off the line as they shoot it extremely well. This team is a different challenge, but it’s a great opportunity for us.
I feel like their jumbo line-up is just as big as us you know…I feel like it’s going to be fun, you know, the physicality of the team. Because they’re built different than Brooklyn in a sense, so I feel like it’s going to be a more physical series with these guys, and it’s going to be exciting to play in because that fits me well,” Williams told the media when asked about what the Celtics are expecting coming into game one.
Celtics Enter Game One at Full Strength
As the Celtics wrapped up their series against the Nets, eyebrows were raised when Udoka and Brad Stevens both touched on Jaylen Brown’s sore hamstring. Usually, when a player or coach mentions some soreness following a tough-fought series, you expect those issues to heal with a few days’ rest, but Brown has had hamstring issues throughout the season, so the news was rather significant.
Luckily, when speaking to the media on Saturday, April 31, the team stressed that Brown was feeling fine, and would be ready to participate in game one against the Bucks. The Celtics star also took time during his own media availability to confirm his coach’s report, noting that the additional rest the team has received due to making light work of the Nets was a welcomed bonus.
“It was essential to have a couple of days off, so credit to us for taking care of business so we can have that. I did some tests this week, got some treatment, should be ready to roll,” Brown told the media, “Anytime you’re dealing with a lingering injury, you want to be precautious and careful. But I think I’m OK. This one is on the lower end of the spectrum, so I’ll be fine.”
Robert Williams is also set to participate in the contest and has come back from injury to face the Nets in the final two games of the series, albeit in a bench role. With Brown fit and ready to go, and Williams set to continue participating, Boston can be confident in having a full-strength roster heading into the opening game against the Bucks.
Celtics Have to Take Care of Home Court
The common consensus around the NBA is that if you wish to progress in the playoffs you have to take care of the games in your own building. If the Celtics can win games one and two in front of their fans, and then split their road games, they will be in a commanding position.
However, that’s easier said than done when facing the current champions. Instead, Boston should feel confident in the fact that they own home-court advantage throughout this series, so should this matchup go to a game seven, it will take place at the TD Garden where the fans are often considered to be the sixth man.
The Celtics injury report is clean for Game 1 vs the Bucks. No players listed.
Khris Middleton’s absence from the Bucks rotation will be a significant blow to their chances of success, especially considering how well he usually plays against the Celtics. Still, Boston will need to be on top form if they want to build a two-game lead before heading to Milwaukee for rounds three and four.
Luckily, with game one set to take place at the TD Garden on Sunday, May 1, we won’t have long to wait before we can start unraveling this puzzle and getting a better idea of which team has the better odds of progressing to the conference finals.