The Boston Celtics were reunited with Robert Williams on the floor after an eight-game injury stint, which proved to be huge during their 132-109 victory over the Sacramento Kings to end a two-week-long road trip.
Williams, who was sidelined since March 3 with a left hamstring injury, wasn’t instantly tossed into the C’s starting lineup, instead playing 21 minutes off the bench. Going up against the league-leading offense in the Kings, Williams did a little of everything, scoring six points, grabbing seven rebounds and also recording a block.
But despite not registering an eyebrow-raising stat line by the final buzzer, Williams’ presence alone was acknowledged afterward, first by head coach Joe Mazzulla, then by Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum — who like Mazzulla, shared a similar sentiment of the Time Lord’s return.
“It just makes us much more dynamic, I feel like,” Tatum said, according to Jay King of The Athletic. “His presence. Even if he’s not blocking shots, he’s deterring people away from the basket. He’s grabbing rebounds, giving us second-and-third-chance opportunities.”
Williams has proved time and time again that, unlike Tatum or Jaylen Brown, he isn’t required to seek scoring opportunities in order to create an impact on the floor for Boston. Tuesday night was the fifth time in Williams’ last nine games played that he’s registered a positive plus-minus while also scoring 10 or fewer points.
With their defensive anchor back in action, Tatum emphasized a sense of added confidence in the Celtics with nine games left scheduled before the end of the regular season.
“Obviously we didn’t have (guard Payton Pritchard) but having the starters and having Rob back, we’re just a different team,” Tatum said.
