Robert Williams knew something was wrong right away.
“I knew something happened that was going to stop me from playing,” Williams explained in a Saturday morning media availability. “I was just telling Payton (Pritchard) on the bench, I was like ‘I’m kinda nervous but my knee is hurting.’ I tried to walk around a little bit, I couldn't walk around.”
It wasn’t until the following day, after an MRI, that Williams realized that he had torn his meniscus. He still isn’t sure when it happened, though he thinks it was while guarding Taurean Prince late in the third quarter of Boston’s win over Minnesota, but he’s still not quite sure.
What he does know is that he was about to ask out of the game had he not been subbed out a couple of minutes after that play happened.
“When it happened, I think we were on a little run or whatever and Coach actually took us out and I was about to ask him to take me out anyways,” Williams said. “Every step I took, it was getting worse and worse.”
Williams underwent surgery this past Wednesday to shave down the torn area, a procedure Williams said provided immediate relief from the pain and allow him to move better on his own.
“It was almost like a tiny, small, almost like flap,” Brad Stevens said during his weekly radio appearance on 98.5. “They were able to go in there, they had a couple of different people look at it, they put their heads together and they all agreed that it was a pretty simple solution. So they were able to go in there and fix it.”
That fix has allowed to Williams to rejoin the team immediately, participating in team meetings, film sessions, and then beginning his rehab at the team practice facility.
“We're in the first dose of rehab, so it’s really a lot of basic stuff,” Williams said. “Right now just a lot of non-movement stuff … strengthening everything around the tear or that muscle. And as time progresses there’s a lot of boxes you have to check obviously. You have to walk fine before you can run. You have to run in a straight line before you can make angles or cuts. Lot of different boxes you have to check, but feel like we’re on the right path.”
The Celtics have put his return somewhere in the 4-6 week timeframe, and nothing Williams said during his availability strayed from that. The early end of that would put his return somewhere around the beginning of the second round of the playoffs, while the longer recovery would push it closer to the conference finals.
But ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported this week that the 4-6 week timeline may be conservative, and that a return earlier than that is possible. Williams says the medical staff plan and history with him makes him optimistic about his recovery.
“This is not my first injury that I've been through with the Celtics organization,” he said. “I can just honestly wholeheartedly say, every time I got to enter their care, the expertise, them zoning in on my rehab has been great and it helped me come back numerous times. So I’ve got all the faith in the world in those guys.”
Whenever he does return, Williams has no concerns about coming back as his usual, springy self.
“Shit, not on my part,” he said with a laugh. “Obviously, there's nothing that can compare to playing in an NBA game or obviously the playoffs, but just gotta get out there. Like riding a bike again. Get out there, get my wind under me and I feel like I should be good, obviously, with the help of my teammates picking me up. For sure."
He also has confidence in his teammates holding down the fort until he returns.
“I'm going along with the rehab, you know, stand up for the guys cheering them on. Just ready to come back,” he said. “Seeing those guys step up and cover for each other because everybody out there is capable of a lot of stuff and more than one thing. So just really a level of comfort for me knowing that they still have that confidence, even with me missing because I have that confidence in them. Obviously, a lot, feel like they can do it. But I'm just glad to see them covering for each other.”