Robert Williams will again be unavailable for the Boston Celtics when they host the Milwaukee Bucks for Game 5 on Wednesday night, according to the team’s in-house reporter Marc D’Amico.
Robert Williams will not play in tonight's Game 5 against Milwaukee.
— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) May 11, 2022
This will be the second straight game Williams will miss as he continues to deal with left knee soreness and swelling. The concerning thing here is that this is the same knee the Celtics center had surgery on in March, which caused him to miss the final two weeks of the regular season. Williams beat his original projected timetable to come back for Game 1 of Boston’s first-round series with the Brooklyn Nets, and with hindsight, perhaps he returned too early.
The defensive specialist had been a force against the Bucks in this series with three blocks in the opener, two in Game 2, and another three in Game 3.
Boston will likely start Grant Williams tonight as they did in Game 4, although his play may have limited his opportunities. Grant shot 33 percent from the field while failing to add a steal or block and was a team-worst -17.
While it’s unlikely Al Horford can duplicate his playoff career-high 30 points set on Sunday, he undoubtedly earned more big minutes while Derrick White brought efficiency and energy to Game 4.
The Celtics are -5.5 point home favorites with a moneyline of -215 tonight on FanDuel Sportsbook. Boston is also the favorite to win the series at -190 compared to Milwaukee’s +160 odds.
