1:58pm: Barring a setback, Williams intends to return in Game 3 on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wonjarowski, who tweets that the big man will be on a minutes restriction. If everything goes according to plan, Williams would take on something closer to his normal role in Game 4 on Monday, Wojnarowski says.
12:17pm: Celtics center Robert Williams is close to returning to action, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Williams could potentially play vs. the Nets in Game 3 on Saturday or Game 4 on Monday.
A final determination will be based on how Williams is feeling from day to day as he goes through the final stages of his recovery process, Charania adds. A league source who spoke to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link) stressed that it remains possible the 24-year-old will need a little more time and won’t return for the upcoming games in Brooklyn.
When Williams underwent a partial meniscectomy to address the torn meniscus in his left knee on March 30, the Celtics announced a recovery timeline of four-to-six weeks, and have repeatedly stated since then that the big man remains on track. It has only been 23 days since that timeline was confirmed, so if Williams is able to make it back for one of the next two games, he’ll be returning ahead of schedule.
Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said on Thursday that Williams was progressing well and would travel with the Celtics after participating in some 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 scrimmages and doing contact work this week (Twitter links via Jay King of The Athletic).
The Celtics have a 2-0 lead over the Nets as the series moves to Brooklyn, so there’s no urgency to rush Williams back if he’s not quite ready yet. Still, it sounds like there’s a decent chance both teams could get reinforcements by Game 4, with Ben Simmons also targeting a return on Monday.
The net assassin
Time Lord TM
Shared an elevator with him at the Wynn
Vegas
Dude is a fridge
A really tall fridge with long arms and an incredible vertical leap.
Williams>Simmons.
No Simmons was an three time all star recency bias.
“was”
Yes, Simmons used to be a lot of good things. Now he is a man who has been afraid to play basketball for a year.
They’re both better than Orien Greene
You think?
I think the C’s should let him rest a little longer they clearly don’t need him at the moment so let him get a little more healthy and if need be bring him back in game 5 or the next round