NEW YORK — The mere emotional pickup the Celtics have drawn from Robert Williams’ return to the lineup has already paid a dividend.
But heading into Game 4 Monday evening in Barclays Center, Ime Udoka continued to observe a conservative path along with his younger middle.
“No setbacks. All positive reaction to those minutes and he can get in the 24 range like last game,” the Celtics coach mentioned of Williams’ new ceiling, representing a rise of about 5 minutes. “He played a little less than he could have (in Game 3). But he will not start the game.”
But Williams’ return has already had an impact that stretches past the ground.
“I think it was great to have him back on the court. And, just in general, even going through the walkthrough and things he did before last game. Everybody gave him a nice little cheer in the locker room after the win,” mentioned Udoka. “Just to have him again is clearly an enormous layer to what we do defensively. The different guys have completed an excellent job in his absence.
“But just having him out there as another body we can, obviously, like I always talk about with Al, shaving down those minutes,” he mentioned. “And the elite rim protection and versatility he gives us is huge, but more so than anything, happy that he’s back healthy and pain free and able to increase those minutes and help us in what we’re doing.”
Grant Williams refines his recreation
Grant Williams went into Game 4 with on huge scoring recreation underneath his belt (17 factors, Game 2) whereas additionally taking pictures 10-for-18, together with a fair 40% (4-for-10) from downtown. Though he’s given the Celtics an enormous enhance along with his bodily play at each ends, the younger energy ahead has additionally made his presence felt from deeper vary, most notably within the corners.
“It’s just a matter of repetition,” Williams mentioned of what he’s been engaged on. “For me, that’s by no means actually been (a difficulty) as a result of the 3-point taking pictures has not essentially been my recreation over my life. Like, I’ve at all times been bully ball or like playmaker or anything. Like publish participant in school and earlier than that extra so playmaking greater than taking pictures. So, that’s actually what it’s.
“Just a matter of repetition and getting those shots up and getting the looks that you see here during a game. That’s kind of what I work on now. Whatever I think the team will need, whether it’s just me spot shooting or whether it’s me on movement or whether it’s me screening and rolling and making plays, all of that stuff is kind of how I view it. And I improve my individual game throughout the individual work on my own. Those are the biggest things, where it’s like do what the team needs and then also try to continue to improve for next season for when they expect you to roll a little bit.”
Protecting in opposition to overconfidence
The Celtics had an opportunity to supply the one sweep within the playoff area Monday evening, which, primarily based on a few of their previous conduct, could possibly be a harmful bit of data.
“I mean (think of) the opponent, the guys that we’ve held down to some extent, understanding how quick a series can flip and change and not trying to give them any hope or momentum,” mentioned Udoka. “And so continue to do what we’ve done well. We had another good film session today showing a lot of areas of improvement. And so when they see that and see we held the team to 103 and and did well on the two scorers, but other areas we can really improve on, I think it’s last two games, especially, our starts haven’t been the best. So want to come out with a better start, defensively especially, on those guys. A lot of free room and Irving goes 0-for-7, and five of those looks we’re pretty wide open. So a lot areas we can improve on and understanding that they can get going in at the drop of a dime. And we got to combat that early.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com