So much of this is new for Robert Williams.
He’s never been more important to the Celtics, which is a long way from where he was over his first few seasons. He’s critical to their success, which was pretty clear in Boston’s big Game 3 Finals win over Golden State.
“Rob is really a game changer,” Al Horford said of his frontcourt teammate.
He’s playing in his first NBA Finals, which might be a bit ahead of schedule for this team.
His coach is challenging him in a way he hasn’t been as a pro.
“He looked at me one time and just told me, ‘You going to stop letting those (expletive) run you over?’” Williams said of an exchange with Ime Udoka when facing the Milwaukee Bucks.
And he’s never really had to play through an injury.
Williams is no stranger to the pain. He’s obviously been hurt before. It was one of the knocks on him when people criticized his contract extension. It’s just that it’s usually something that forces him to sit.
Now he has a choice.
“If you don't need to practice, shootaround, I don't need to see you on the court for the rest of the season until game time if that benefits you,” Udoka said last week of the injury management plan for Williams. “So he kind of gets what he needs as far as that. Watches what he needed to watch and really more mental than physical.”
The physical stuff is pretty plain to see. There are trips up the floor after a particularly athletic play where his knee is clearly screaming at him. That's just going to be his life for the near future. But actually being out there to feel that; to clench his teeth, take a deep breath, and find his way past it, is up to him.
“Just trying to be accountable for my team,” Williams said. “We made it this far. Obviously I had a discussion with myself, by pushing through this. I'm happy with how it's going. We'll worry about the injury after the season, but for now, I'm still fighting.”
His fighting won Boston Game 3. In the first quarter, he recovered quickly to block a Gary Payton II dunk, landing awkwardly and limping his way back up the floor. He pushed through it to block three more shots in the game while steering a few Warriors away from the paint entirely, lest they add to his total.
“He's hurting, and even though he's hurt he still wants to get out and help his team,” Marcus Smart said. If anyone knows about playing through pain, it’s the point guard who still has glass in his hand from an incident years ago. “I just told him, you know your body. You know what you can withstand and what you can't. But just know, we've got a chance to do something special. There's no guarantees that we'll be back here.\
"If you can go, we'll take 20 percent of you better than none of you. He understood that, and he decided to go out there and put his big boy pants on and suck it up and go crazy."
These opportunities are, indeed, fleeting. Greater players on better teams missed out on chances to play for a championship or raise the banner, yet here Williams and the Celtics are, two wins away. Williams’ had three of Boston’s 15 offensive rebounds, which led to 22 second chance points. He contributed to Boston’s 52 points in the paint, part of a much needed more aggressive offensive attack. And he kept multiple plays alive just by tipping, poking, or diving for the ball.
“We're very fortunate to have a guy like that that impacts winning in the way that he does, because it's beyond the numbers with him,” Horford said. “It's just all the things that he brings, being in the right places. I've been so impressed with Rob, just his ability to just continue to get better and learn.”
Boston had three 20-point scorers and four guys with five or more assists, but it was Williams who led the team with a +21. Sometimes those single-game +/- stats can be noisy and misleading, but this time that matched the eye test.
Williams was the most important Celtic on the floor tonight. He was a force on both ends of the floor, and he did it on a surgically repaired knee that is still swollen and painful. It’s possible the one day off before Game 4 could be too little time to get Williams ready, but it’s also pretty clear now that Williams is willing to do what he needs to make sure he’s as ready as he can be.
This has been a tough mental challenge for Williams, and he hasn’t always looked his best while dealing with it. He was a mess in Game 7 against Miami and even Game 2 of the Finals was a bit choppy. But he’s figuring it out.
“He learns. We talk to him, I feel like we can ask a lot of him and he always takes it in, figures it out, and it's better,” Horford said. “But his stuff goes beyond the box score, the impact that he has on the game.”
All Boston needs is for him to impact two more, and then Williams can rest his knee as long as he needs. Until then, the promise of a ring and a victory parade is enough to keep Williams pushing to play.
“Knowing what I'm playing for, obviously. Taking the risk of playing and getting this far,” Williams said. “I've obviously got more work to do, but it's worth it, for sure.”
