Robert Williams has been one of the best aspects for the Celtics while keeping themselves just above the .500 mark, but what makes the Center going might surprise you.
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The Boston Celtics are not having a tremendous season but are keeping up the pace to be a winning team. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as usual are their player of the match in most wins, but there is a man who has been consistently delivering it for the C’s, Robert Williams III.
“Timelord” is not only one of Boston’s most consistent players, delivering close to a double-double with 9.8 points and 9.6 rebounds, he’s great on defense as well, averaging over 2 blocks and almost one steal (0.9) a game. He does all that playing just 29 minutes per game.
“It’s incredible just what he brings to us every night,” Tatum said after Saturday night’s win in New Orleans Pelicans. “And I think just kind of seeing where he started and how far he’s come, I think him starting to realize how important to us that he is going forward in what we ultimately want to accomplish.”
The maturity with which the 24-year-old canter plays every single night is rare. But what gets the 6’9 big man might make it even more unique than the other 5s in the league.
As much as Rob Williams enjoys annihilating the rim, he explains why there’s nothing he loves more than creating buckets for his teammates. https://t.co/tqTtYzRdAg
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 31, 2022
Robert Williams needs assists to be himself
It’s pretty evident for most NBA fans that apart from Nikola Jokic from the Denver Nuggets, no other big relies on dimes to get themselves or their teammates going. Rob Williams is on the right track as he says it’s dimes to his teammates that excite him the most.
“Oh assist, for sure,” Williams answered Monday morning when asked what kind of plays he prefers. “I’m kind of like pass first, kick the ball out, especially pushing off rebounds.”
Although he just averages 2 assists a game, to prove his point, in the 3rd quarter of that Saturday night matchup against the New Orleans, Williams passed up what could have been an open dunk to feed Jayson Tatum for a wide-open 3-pointer.
“They kind of got on me about,” Williams joked of his teammates’ reactions to that decision. “I was wide open under the goal and I had a dunk, but I just turned around and threw to the 3-point line. [Tatum] made it, thankfully.”
The youngster is not shy of big games as well. In the Celtics’ last game of the year 2021, Williams’ solid play was on full display in a historic performance against the Phoenix Suns. With his 10 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and 5 blocks, first triple-double of his career, Boston blew away the league leaders 123-108.
These might have been the expectations when the C’s extended his contract for 4 years and $54 million amid interests from various teams in the off-season. But to get what they are getting out of him in regularity, that deal now seems like a bargain.
