Getty Robert Williams III #44, Boston Celtics
After missing the first 29 games of the season, Robert Williams III made his debut for the Boston Celtics. Though the Celtics wound up losing, teammates were excited to see Williams return to the floor. After the game, Williams talked about his teammates being there for him while recovering, even singling out Blake Griffin for hyping up his return to the floor.
“My whole rehab process, they always check in on me, hyping me up. I probably heard Blake say ‘RobWill’ like 30,000 times. They always got my back, man. Just making sure I belong,” Williams said.
“I think I just needed to catch a lob and dunk.”
Rob Williams talks tempering his nerves/excitement in his return tonight, and how his teammates kept his confidence up while he was coming back from injury #BleedGreen
With Williams out and Horford being absent for multiple games, Griffin has slotted in as the Celtics’ starting center for eight games this season. The Celtics have gone 6-2 in those games, with wins against the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, among others. With Williams back, Griffin’s role will likely get smaller going forward, pending any more injuries.
Williams Revealed What Calmed His Nerves in Debut
Making his debut 30 games into the season, Williams talked about the nerves he had heading into his first game back during his postgame presser and that it was his first dunk that calmed them.
“I think it was the first dunk. I think I just needed to catch a lob and dunk, to be honest. It’s just like a sense of comfort. So I think after the first dunk, I could just breathe. But, everything followed after that in sense of the effort. Obviously not enough, but, yeah, I say it was the dunk,” Williams said.
The lob and dunk occurred in the first quarter when Marcus Smart lobbed it to Williams for the easy dunk, pushing the Celtic lead to 19-11.
Welcome back, Robert Williams III ‼️
TOUGH way to get your first bucket of the season.
The Celtics would go on to lose anyway, which Williams voiced frustration about to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, though he said it felt great to be back.
“I felt great. The nerves were getting me pretty bad before the game. We f***ing lost. We gotta bounce back from that,” Williams said.
Williams came off the bench in his season debut, putting up a statline of nine points, five rebounds, a steal, and a block in 17 minutes. Only time will tell if and when the Celtics plan to insert him in the starting lineup. Since the Celtics are 22-8 and are the no. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, there’s no rush for Williams to be thrown to the wolves.
Jayson Tatum Sounds Off on Al Horford Ejection
The Celtics became undermanned in their frontcourt when Al Horford was ejected for hitting Moe Wagner in the groin.
Al Horford got ejected for elbowing Moe Wagner below the belt 😳
After the game, Tatum vocalized his disbelief over Horford’s ejection, believing that Wagner fouled him beforehand.
“That was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe Al got thrown out the game. I didn’t think that was warranted. Especially once they went to go review, they saw that Mo fouled him,” Tatum said.
Tatum then explained that Horford had to take matters into his own hands since the refs were not seeing what Wagner was doing to him.
“You know, sometimes guys get tired of people grabbing on them and the ref not seeing it,” Tatum said. “So, s***, as a grown man, you take it in your own hands to get somebody up off of you, and that’s all he did, just got him up off of him because he was getting fouled. I don’t think Al deserved to get thrown out of the game at all.”
Jayson Tatum talks Al Horford’s ejection vs. Magic
The Celtics will take on the Magic again on December 18.