Robert Williams cleared to play, Kemba Walker could return next week

The Celtics don’t quite have a healthy roster yet, but they took a big step closer to one on Friday afternoon.

Robert Williams received his final hip scan by team doctors and was given the all clear to return to game action after a week of ramping up on-court activities. It’s possible he could play after a three-month absence on Saturday night against the Rockets.

“Rob has been cleared to play, so it’ll be very limited for the first couple games,” Brad Stevens said. “That’s great news obviously. We’re excited, nobody moreso than Rob.”

The Rockets play a smaller brand of basketball, with their centers on the floor being stretch 4s like PJ Tucker and Robert Covington generally manning the middle. That would look to be a tough matchup on paper for the second-year center, but Stevens isn’t ruling out throwing Williams into the mix.

“Rob’s a pretty mobile guy,” Stevens said. “He can move with guards and wings, so he may get some minutes tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes.”

Williams had been dealing with a hip edema since December and was given a very controlled recovery timetable by team doctors to get him back to this point. The plan appears to have paid off, as Williams is back at full strength for the stretch run of the season.

“He had a little extra bounce in his step today,” Stevens said. “You can tell, he’s been antsy to go for a while now, so we’re happy that he’s going to be able to be back.”

Williams will not be joined on the floor by Kemba Walker, who remains unlikely to play on Saturday, according to Stevens. But the point guard is inching closer to a return next week after missing his last four games with a sore knee.

“He went through some of the stuff prior to practice today, did not practice,” Stevens said. “I think the plan of attack is for him is to go harder in the morning, maybe even ramp it up Sunday and then go from there. So hopefully back by Tuesday, but out for tomorrow is what I’ve heard last.”

The Celtics play a back-to-back set on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Nets and Cavs and Stevens confirmed that Walker would only play one of those games if he is cleared to play — while likely playing on some kind of a minutes limit in his first few games back.

“The goal is to have him feeling great,” Stevens said. “Not just be ready, but feeling great. And so, when he gets back, you’re not doing the back and forth as much of sitting a few. Now, if he were to come back next week, I don’t anticipate him playing on the back-to-back. But I do think that once he gets back on the court, it’s because he feels great.”

The Celtics have gone 3-1 without Walker since the All-Star Break but the challenge will be great against a Rockets team that beat the Celtics convincingly just two weeks ago.

“I kind of get a kick out of the small-ball category,” Stevens said of Houston’s makeup. “Like I said before, we played them in Houston, just a bunch of linebackers. Tough, strong, physical, you can’t post them, excellent in doing what they do best. Hard to play against. And the only position they’re small in is at center. They’re huge at the point and have a physical advantage at a lot of positions.”

The Celtics have won 14 of 17 overall but with five playoff opponents looming in their next seven games, there will be little margin for error in a tight race for the No. 2 seed.

“We have to get way better,” Stevens said. “We have to get way better. We found ways to win some games and we’ve done a good job of playing together and being together and staying together. But as far as – we just have to get better, you know. And the encouraging part is that we’ve shown signs of that. I thought we saw some things in the Lakers game that we hadn’t seen a ton of. We saw it again in the Utah game and we handled it well. So that’s a good sign of growth. But we’ve got a long way to go to be where you want to be.”