Celtics Big Man Robert Williams Ruled Out For Wednesday Night's Game Vs. Hawks
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Celtics will be without big man Robert Williams when they visit the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. Williams has been ruled out with left knee tendinopathy.
Celtics head coach Ime Udoka made the announcement Wednesday morning, and added that Williams' injury is being considered a "short-term thing."
Williams played just 13 minutes of Monday's win over the Cleveland Cavaliers before leaving with the injury. He did not play in the second half.
Losing Williams will be a big blow to Boston in the short term, with the team already dealing with the loss of Jaylen Brown as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Williams has been excellent as the C's starting center this season, serving as a key defensive cog for Boston while averaging 30.8 minutes per game. He's averaging 10 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks over his 13 games this season.
"Obviously playing the most minutes I've played in my career, it's something I got to be on top of as far as treatment wise and everything else," Williams said Wednesday.
Udoka will now have to juggle Boston's center minutes with Al Horford, Grant Williams, Enes Kanter and Bruno Fernando. Horford has been great at power forward this year, but will likely move to center so that Grant Williams can play the four.
"We're comfortable with Grant as the starter," Udoka said Wednesday. "He's done it quite a bit this year and then see what they bring off the bench to counteract in the game at the time. They go smaller, with [John] Collins at the five and [Danillo] Gallinari at the four, so we can go a few ways with that."
The Celtics are currently 7-7 on the season.
