While his Celtics teammates were celebrating their Game 3 victory Friday night, Grant Williams was in a dentist’s chair, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Williams had to get treated by the Sixers’ team dentist after Joel Embiid accidentally stepped on the back of his head while chasing a loose ball in the fourth quarter (video link).
“A swollen nose,” Williams said. “That’s about it and stitches in the mouth. I think it was three or four.”
Williams added that he didn’t need to be checked for a concussion and he expects to be ready when the series resumes on Sunday. The only change is that he’ll have some extra protection.
“I thought it would be a smart decision to throw a mouthpiece in there,” he said at Saturday’s practice. “My parents have been getting on me for the past three years for not wearing a mouthpiece. Let’s just say last night didn’t help.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Robert Williams also had an injury scare on Friday night, hurting his right arm while saving a loose ball in the fourth quarter, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Doctors examined the arm after he was taken out of the game, and he was diagnosed with a right forearm contusion. Williams wore a sleeve on the arm today, but said he was feeling fine. He expects his team to face an even tougher test in Game 4. “We know what we’re coming into,” he said. “The crowd was crazy, we could barely hear each other last night. But the same fight, man. We expect to leave out the game with more scars than yesterday.”
- Marcus Smart has been listed as questionable for Game 4 with a sprained left ankle, Terada, adds in another MassLive story. Smart was questionable for Game 2 of the series with a chest contusion, but wasn’t on the injury report for Game 3. Blake Griffin, who was a late scratch for Friday’s game because of low back pain, is also considered questionable for Sunday. The veteran big man hasn’t played yet in the Sixers’ series and made just one brief appearance during the first round.
- Jaylen Brown‘s defense on James Harden has played a huge role in turning the series around, observes Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. After Harden’s 45-point outburst in the series opener, the Celtics began using Brown as the primary defender on him. Harden has been limited to 12 and 16 points the last two games and shot a combined 5-of-28 from the field.
Soxers will win game 4, Boston will win 2 straight to take this series in 6 and send that cry baby Embiid home with the only thing that matters to him, his MVP participation trophy.
Like I said, if Doc played Embiid more than 20mins they were gonna lose.
Or maybe it could be that the Celtics are just a better team.
You also said the Celtics were going to lose after game one.
Hopefully the Celtics can get healthy and roll on to 18!
Embid is a great player. Why can’t people give credit where credit is due. Tacocat is right. The Celtics are just better as a team.
He’s a great player when healthy. Right now he isn’t. I do think Philly could benefit from using him less.
I mean Greg Oden had his moments as well…
No rings either though…
These playoffs have serious hurt Grant Williams chance at getting a bag this offseason. Has hardly seen the court for them