Celtics Notes: Robert Williams Was ‘Best Big’ In Narrow Loss To Pacers

It came down the stretch for the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers.

But with just 8.4 seconds left in the game, there seemed to be a miscommunication on the court as Domantas Sabonis blew by Grant Williams to score the game-winning layup for the Indiana Pacers.

The 108-107 loss wasn’t for lack of effort on Robert Williams end, however, who was a silver lining in a sloppy game plagued by turnovers and one of those infamous third quarters from the Celtics.

“I feel like at the end of the day we didn’t stop them when we were supposed to. We messed up the defensive coverage so that really threw all that other stuff out the window,” Robert Williams said in his postgame media availability.

“I was brought in the game to bring the energy so that’s what I was trying to do. But like I said, we messed up the coverage. Me personally, I messed up the coverage.”

Robert Williams was being hard on himself, and probably just taking one for the team to take the spotlight off Grant Williams, who certainly didn’t have his best game in a Celtics uniform.

Because ultimately, Robert Williams was a large part of why this game was even close at the end.

“He played hard. He played really hard,” head coach Brad Stevens said of Robert Williams’ performance. “Obviously we were very low energy in the third quarter and that cost us the game. Anytime you give up 40 on the road in a quarter to a good team, you’re probably going to lose. To our guys’ credit they hung in there and got back in the game. But Rob was one of the reasons why because he brought a great deal of energy to the table.”

Coming off the bench, the third-year center scored 12 points and recorded four steals, four rebounds, two blocks and an assist.

It was a welcome turnaround from his first game of the season, where he looked quite lost, and he had missed the C’s game on Christmas Day due to illness.

And of all games where a Daniel Theis-Tristan Thompson backcourt would seem to be effective, Robert Williams played 22 minutes, matching starting center Tristan Thompson’s time played and surprisingly surpassing Daniel Theis’ 15 minutes. Grant Williams played 23 minutes.

“I just thought Rob was our best big tonight. I mean, I thought that was pretty clear, right?” Stevens said. “He played with great energy. He played super hard. Did everything well. I thought when Tristan came back in the fourth he had some super good possessions there. We’re going to rotate guys and obviously when we’re struggling we’ve got to find the right mix.”

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown after the game didn’t allow Robert Williams to take blame for that play, and mentioned how important he is to their game on both ends of the court.

And while Robert Williams himself sees progress in his performances, it’s not good enough for him.

“I feel like I’m definitely coming along making the progress but like I said it’s not coming along fast enough,” Williams said. “We slipping up like this. So next game try to minimize the slip ups.”

Here’s what else went down in the Celtics loss to the Pacers:
— The ball was in Jayson Tatum’s hands when the game was on the line.

Unfortunately for the Celtics, what could have been the game-winner didn’t fall after Tatum settled for a 28-foot stepback when Boston was only down one point.

“Nah that’s on me. I should have put more pressure on the defense,” Tatum said. “That’s a shot I take a lot. A shot I can get. But it’s on me. I should have put more pressure on the defense.

“I take full blame. I didn’t play nearly as well as I needed to. Or as well as people expect me to. I’ll take that on me.”

Yes, the miss decided the game. But Tatum’s shooting is a big reason why the Celtics were even still in it at that point. He got hot in the second quarter and tied Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon with a game-high 25 points.

The shot missed, but Stevens isn’t mad it ended up in his hands, regardless of how the play was drawn out.

“We were looking for a little bit of action off of a entry where they were denying and it went to Tatum at the top. We had that as an option,” Stevens said. “Tatum got separation but that’s obviously a tough shot. But he made it the other day and one of our best players and certainly one of the guys you want to have the ball with the game on the line had the ball. So that was the positive, I guess.”

— The Celtics opened up the game with a run that saw them have a double-digit lead, but it was squandered by seven (!!) turnovers in the first quarter. By halftime, Boston shot 61.1% from the field but had 11 turnovers.

The sloppy play overshadowed a pretty solid effort on both ends by the Celtics and allowed a Pacers team shooting just 25% from 3 at the break to keep things close.

Ultimately, the Pacers scored 25 points off of 18 Celtics turnovers.

— Marcus Smart went down late in the game after trying to take a charge and appeared to injure his right shoulder or collarbone. He briefly left the game, but made it back in time to make a go-ahead layup in transition after a Robert Williams steal.

Stevens didn’t have much of an update, and Smart appears to be fine.

“He said he hit his shoulder,” Stevens said. “I don’t know what happened. I just know he was able to come back a minute later.”

— More positives here include Tatum continuing to evolve into a playmaker, good play from Brown out of the pick and roll, Jeff Teague showing his value defensively and solid shot selection from Marcus Smart.

Not to mention, rookie Payton Pritchard led bench scoring with 13 points and is looking pretty comfortable out there, pulling up from deep.

— Jaylen Brown said after the game he feels as though the Celtics lost this game with their lack of toughness and physicality.

Fortunately, it’s still early in the season and there’s time to fix that.

“I think it’s Game 3. Obviously it got away from us today but where we are in the process is Game 3,” Brown said. “We’re looking forward to Game 4.”

Boston redeem itself on Tuesday against Indiana, as they play the Pacers again with a 7 p.m. ET tip.