Celtics Notebook: Robert Williams set to return from back injury

The Celtics have not been completely healthy for many games this season but they are getting back to full strength at the right time ahead of the start of the postseason in two weeks. The latest addition to the lineup will be center Robert Williams who has missed the past two games with a lower back contusion after a scary fall during Saturday's loss against the Hornets.

Williams had played well in the first half of that matchup after starting at center for the first time in his career, piling up a couple of blocks and a dunk before a failed putback attempt led to his fall. The team ruled him as probable to return on Friday night in a critical matchup against the Pacers. Al Horford is also listed as probable for the matchup, while Kyrie Irving will be back in action after getting a night off to rest in Cleveland on Tuesday night.

With the Celtics committing to going big more on the defensive end in recent weeks, it is possible that Williams will see minutes ahead of Daniel Theis in the rotation at times for his rim protection presence. He has fared quite well when paired up with Horford this year (+65 net rating in 48 minutes) on the front line so that's a duo that could get a few minutes here and there as the postseason approaches.

Prep begins for Pacers

The Celtics are essentially locked into a first-round battle with the fourth-seeded Pacers but where exactly that series opens up will be largely dependent on Boston's performance down the stretch in two head-to-head matchups with Indy over the next week, starting Friday night at the Garden.

“We’ve got to take it as the playoffs have started for us,” Marcus Smart said Wednesday. “It’s a playoff team and it’s a possible team we might play. So for us to come out and really build some momentum against them before the playoffs starts, who knows if we may match up with them. But if we do, we’re ready and we built up that momentum against them early.”

We want to play well against them and also get home court," Gordon Hayward added. "They’re a good team. They play together, they move the ball well, they play to their strengths, they’re going to be tough. I think it will be a fun game for us, hopefully one we can look to improve and kinda get ourselves going.”

With critical games looming against Indy in a couple of weeks, the suggestion has been thrown out for the Celtics might try to keep some of their gameplan and potential lineups under wraps until the postseason hits. However, Stevens downplayed the value of playing things close to the vest.

“I don’t really worry about that stuff," Stevens said. "There’s seven games in a series. That stuff all comes out. We have 75 games of film, as do they. People are easy to scout, for the most part. You might add something as the series goes on, you might tweak things, you might guard actions different ways, but I think sometimes when you focus on trying to trick people, it’s more important just to be you, and be the best version of yourself.”

The focus now for the Celtics has to come with righting the ship themselves after playing .500 basketball since the All-Star Break. Without that, what they do against the Pacers now or in the postseason won't matter.

“I’m pretty locked in on us right now," Stevens explained. "Certainly we prepare and we scout and we will be ready for each of those games, and we’re very cognizant of where the standings are, and the likelihood of that playing out. So yeah, you’re looking at it with a great amount of interest, and maybe even an enhanced level of detail. But we also can’t miss the boat on us, because we have a lot to work out ourselves.”

Ainge eager for the postseason 

Danny Ainge took part in his weekly interview with Toucher and Rich on 98.5 The Sports Hub on Thursday and remained positive about what lies ahead despite a rough second half of the year for Boston.

“I’m excited right now because our team is getting healthy, we haven’t had Baynes and Horford, in the lineup very much this year," Ainge said. "I’m excited about where we can be in the playoff and not just this game Friday, I think it will be a fun game on Friday night, I think that we have seven fun games to finish the season.”

Six of those seven games will come against teams that are fighting for playoff positioning or their playoff lives, which should be a good gauge for Boston as they try to gain their own rhythm back before the stakes are raised.

Ainge also downplayed any talk of flipping the switch, noting the game had shown it was capable of playing good basketball in stretches against elite competition in recent weeks, including in Philadelphia on last Wednesday.

“I don’t consider it flipping the switch because a lot of really good basketball being played, we just have moments where we have struggled and we have lost leads," Ainge explained. "I’m not diminishing that, I’m just saying our guys have done some really good things in spite of being, you know, in the Philly game three of our key guys weren’t playing.”