The Celtics did exactly what they were supposed to Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.
Boston built a 30-point halftime lead on Atlanta, eventually rolling to an easy Game 1 victory in the Eastern Conference first-round series. It was to be expected that the second-seeded Celtics would make easy work of the No. 7 seed Hawks, but the dominance of the first half was almost silly. The man who helped spark the silliness? Robert Williams III.
The 25-year-old put together a dominant performance above the rim, finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds, one steal and an absurd block in just 22 minutes off the bench.
The Celtics’ initial jolt came when he checked into the game, doing exactly what Boston has been looking for him to do in that role.
“It’s just his presence at the rim on both ends of the floor,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters. “I thought he did a good job of protecting us in the paint — especially in the first half. I though he did a great job keeping his spacing and creating screen angles for our guys. So when we have that vertical threat it really helps us with rim protection as well.”
The Celtics benefitted from a horrific shooting night from the Hawks, where they connected on just 17.2% of shots from beyond-the-arc. It would have been easier for the Hawks to score on an octopus than Williams with the way he was defending the rim, causing bad passes and forced shots while the Celtics built their lead.
On the offensive end, Williams was the ultimate helper.
“He was great for us,” Derrick White said postgame. “On both ends he was active, flying around. When we drive or have people coming over to you he’s always an outlet for us, whether it’s above the rim or a bounce pass, whatever it might be. He was great for us. He had a huge game. It’s nice having him out there with us.”
The Celtics were adamant that Williams would be key to their success headed into the postseason. Mazzulla, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown all said as much, and they watched it come to fruition in Game 1.
