The pre-game of the night’s meeting in Atlanta, the first leg of a six-game road trip, was an opportunity to take stock of the health of two important elements of Boston’s good performance, which remained on four losses in five games, Payton Pritchard And Robert WilliamsIII.
Affected in the hamstring of the left leg for almost ten days, Robert Williams should be the first to find the floors. His goal is to return during the “road-trip” of the C’s without a date being fixed for the moment.
“It’s clearly something I want to do, but I’m just trying to tick all the boxes and make sure it’s okay”, did he declare before the meeting of the night. “It’s a bit tricky, because you can feel good, then go out on the court and do a complicated move and the pain comes back, so I just try to be careful.”
No rush for Robert Williams III
Now is not the time to rush, especially one month from the end of the regular season and when you know how fragile the imposing pivot of the Celtics can paradoxically be. His return had been estimated at ten days, and for the moment, it is on the way, Robert Williams III ensuring to feel in good shape, even if caution remains in order.
” I feel good. I’m starting to understand what’s happening on the court in terms of running and movement. I move a lot more. I’m just trying to be careful. The hamstrings are very sensitive. I take my time, I don’t rush, I respect my body’s reaction and I’m able to push it a bit to get to that level.”
For Payton Pritchard, on the other hand, the news is less good. Hit in the heel, the leader missed his second game in a row last night, and for the time being the staff has no real visibility on his return timing.
“He is still in a lot of pain. I spoke to him today, I’m not sure about the time frame, but I know he’s still in a lot of pain and I don’t know how long it will be. But it’s really something that affects him.”, said Joe Mazzulla.
Unlike Robert Williams III, Payton Pritchard did not travel with the rest of the team for this “road trip”. After Atlanta, Boston will join the West with a first stop in Houston to start a big week with four games on the program which will end with a “back-to-back” this weekend, in Portland then Utah.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Jayson Tatum | 62 | 37.4 | 46.3 | 35.5 | 85.9 | 1.1 | 7.7 | 8.8 | 4.7 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 30.3 |
| Jaylen Brown | 55 | 36.1 | 48.5 | 33.3 | 77.4 | 1.2 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 26.4 |
| Malcolm Brogdon | 56 | 25.6 | 48.2 | 45.2 | 87.8 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 14.6 |
| Derrick White | 67 | 27.9 | 45.7 | 37.2 | 86.8 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 12.0 |
| Marcus Smart | 50 | 32.4 | 41.6 | 33.6 | 76.8 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 6.6 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 11.4 |
| Al Horford | 52 | 31.0 | 48.5 | 45.4 | 73.7 | 1.2 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 10.0 |
| Robert Williams | 28 | 24.2 | 75.0 | 0.0 | 62.5 | 3.1 | 5.5 | 8.6 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 8.4 |
| Grant Williams | 65 | 27.0 | 45.5 | 40.4 | 80.4 | 1.1 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 8.4 |
| Sam Hauser | 65 | 15.7 | 45.3 | 41.5 | 70.6 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 6.2 |
| Mike Muscala | 9 | 17.0 | 42.2 | 34.3 | 50.0 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 5.7 |
| Payton Pritchard | 45 | 12.5 | 39.0 | 33.1 | 73.3 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 4.7 |
| Blake Griffin | 29 | 14.4 | 49.5 | 36.5 | 62.5 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 4.6 |
| Luke Kornet | 56 | 11.5 | 68.5 | 33.3 | 80.6 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| noah vonleh | 23 | 7.4 | 45.8 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| Mfiondu Kabengele | 2 | 7.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 |
| justin jackson | 23 | 4.7 | 25.9 | 25.0 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Jd Davison | 7 | 2.6 | 27.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
