POST GAME - ROCKETS - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Rob Williams’ Career Night Lifts Boston Over Rockets, 118-102
There was a lot to like about this performance


NESN by Alexandra Francisco

Sure, the Houston Rockets aren’t great this year. But they were just the opponent the Boston Celtics needed to build some positive momentum to hopefully carry them through the season.

And it all started and ended with Robert Williams, who recorded a career-high 20 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and a steal. And when things looked dim for Boston, the third-year center got them going on both sides of the ball, helping them secure a 118-102 win.

They had 35 team assists and made the extra pass over and over again. Defense created offense. And Boston actually won by a good margin, thanks to a massive 20-point fourth from Evan Fournier.

The new Celtics wing had 23 points off the bench, behind only Jayson Tatum’s 26 points and nine rebounds. Jaylen Brown had a triple-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds with two assists before leaving the game. Kemba Walker had a productive 11 points, eight assists and six boards, and though Marcus Smart just had six points, he orchestrated both sides of the ball with 10 assists, three steals and a block.

Boston improves to 23-25 with the win.


Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Jaylen Brown
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Marcus Smart
C: Robert Williams

FOULS AN EARLY ISSUE
The Celtics offense and ball movement were strong from the start, with 10 first-quarter assists from the collective.

And it began instantly, with Robert Williams bringing the energy to notch the first points of the game off a lob from Smart.


Jayson Tatum led the first quarter in scoring nine points early, with a balanced effort across the starting lineup, and Evan Fournier pulled up with no hesitation, showing off exactly what Boston brought him in for.

But with everything going well on offense, things were a little tougher on the other side of the ball, with the Celtics struggling to defend without fouling. They’d accumulated seven (!!) personal fouls in the opening frame alone.

Still, Boston led Houston 33-25 at the first break.

BENDING, NOT BREAKING
The start of the second rang a familiar tune, with the team frigid from beyond the arc for some time. Christian Wood led the Rockets in breathing down the Celtics neck, briefly taking a one-point lead with 3:37 before halftime.

For most of the quarter, Williams’ effort on defense was the only silver lining. But finally, that started to rub off on the rest of his teammates and the Celtics started to look like the Celtics again.


By that, we mean that the defense starting creating offense, something we haven’t seen much of from Boston this year.


Boston proceeded to go off on a 9-0 run to close out the quarter, with 13 points from Tatum by the break. Talk about entering halftime with all the momentum:


Boston led Houston 52-44 after two quarters.

KEEP THAT SAME ENERGY
There was no third-quarter collapse. Quite the opposite, actually, as Boston enjoyed as much as a 15-point lead.

The balanced offense and ball movement in transition was something the late-Tommy Heinsohn would dream about, barely even needing to dribble on some plays.



Brown caught up to Tatum’s scoring in the third, finishing the quarter with 22 points following up his co-star’s 26. And he put Kenyon Martin Jr. on a poster.


Boston led 82-70 entering the half.

WELCOME TO BOSTON, FOURNIER
Entering the fourth quarter, Fournier had three points from a first-frame 3-pointer. By the end of it, he had 23 points, surpassing all of his teammates in scoring save for Tatum.

As they buried the Rockets, they unfortunately lost Brown for the remainder of the game with a left knee contusion.

The Celtics closed it out, though. With an exclamation point.


UP NEXT
The Celtics get back to work Sunday, again at TD Garden, as they welcome familliar faces Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier back to TD Garden.

Boston faces the Charlotte Hornets at 6 p.m. ET.

112288

Hi,
Where is Mike Gorman? I hope he is ok


AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Where is Mike Gorman? I hope he is ok


AK

I heard he had some moderate reactions to the second vaccine shot, but is ok and will be on the call for the game tomorrow.

bobc33 wrote:

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Where is Mike Gorman? I hope he is ok

AK

I heard he had some moderate reactions to the second vaccine shot, but is ok and will be on the call for the game tomorrow.

That's some good news. I thought the replacement guy (Mannix) did a good job. He had to correct Scal on a call or two.

There was an obvious carry by Tatum. Scal said he has been teaching that move in a class.

gyso wrote:

bobc33 wrote:

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Where is Mike Gorman? I hope he is ok

AK

I heard he had some moderate reactions to the second vaccine shot, but is ok and will be on the call for the game tomorrow.

That's some good news.  I thought the replacement guy (Mannix) did a good job.  He had to correct Scal on a call or two.

There was an obvious carry by Tatum.  Scal said he has been teaching that move in a class.  

I like Mannix, he knows his stuff and doesn’t indulge in the dumb stuff Scal, Perk and others sometimes get into.

Good to see an old fashioned beat down of an inferior team. The guys were even having some fun out on the court...more of that!

Have to bottle this and continue the ball movement, multiple extra passes and cutters moving without the ball, hate to say this, but that’s how the Nets play when they are blowing games open. RWill with a coming out party, 9-9 from field, multiple stops on defense. Someone is going to undercut him sooner or later, hope they are teaching him to be aware of that and he knows/is training to land as softly as possible.

Frenchy came alive in 4th, right now he looks like he has a lot more left in the tank than GH, he is just the type of sharpshooting vet we need. Hope Kemba and 2 J’s continue to buy into the extra pass and more movement without the ball, it will come back to you....

I missed the game because a friend was having a birthday party and I was commandeered.  Just looking at the boxscore today it's obvious that The Time Lord had a career night and that Fournier lit it up.

The thing I like the most, #1, in RWill's box score is that he had 8 assists and ZERO turnovers.

35 assists on 46fgm would be a stat Sam would love.  Nothing like hitting your shots to make a team feel better about their prospects and feeling better about your prospects often produces positive results.  In other words, nothing succeeds like success and winning cures a lot of ills.

Kornet with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 18 minutes.  He shot 0-3, but only 0-1 from 3.  So, there's 2 two-point fgas that didn't go in.  Could someone who watched the game tell me how a 7'2" player's 2 point fgas didn't go in?


Bob


.

bobheckler wrote:I missed the game because a friend was having a birthday party and I was commandeered.  Just looking at the boxscore today it's obvious that The Time Lord had a career night and that Fournier lit it up.

The thing I like the most, #1, in RWill's box score is that he had 8 assists and ZERO turnovers.

35 assists on 46fgm would be a stat Sam would love.  Nothing like hitting your shots to make a team feel better about their prospects and feeling better about your prospects often produces positive results.  In other words, nothing succeeds like success and winning cures a lot of ills.

Kornet with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 18 minutes.  He shot 0-3, but only 0-1 from 3.  So, there's 2 two-point fgas that didn't go in.  Could someone who watched the game tell me how a 7'2" player's 2 point fgas didn't go in?


Bob


.

Ever hear of the term role player?

Mark Murphy @Murf56
about 1 hour ago
Rob Williams set career highs in points (20), assists (eight) and field goals (9, 9-9) last night. Later said the more minutes he plays, the more comfortable he feels, last night with 27. By post-season he’s got to be a steady 30 mpg. Starting to look like the C’s have their own Bam.


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Rob Williams scored 20 points without missing a shot to go with 8 assists tonight. The only other centers in NBA history to do that are Wilt Chamberlain, Nikola Jokic and Draymond Green, per Stathead.


Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Jayson Tatum said it’s “amazing to see the growth” from Robert Williams. “Rob is special. I love playing with him. He’s an underrated passer. I think that’s one of the best things he does.”


John Karalis @RedsArmy_John
yesterday
All of Robert Williams' assists tonight were for 3-pointers, meaning he accounted for 44 of Boston's point by scoring or assist



Jay King @ByJayKing
about 35 minutes ago
Fournier is just a totally different caliber shooter than the Celtics have had in their supporting cast over the last couple of years. Not at all limited to just spot ups.
https://twitter.com/ByJayKing/status/1378371105191309314


Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Brad Stevens said he could tell that Evan Fournier doesn't "ride the emotional roller coaster." Fournier later said he's going home to have a glass of wine.... "French wine," he made sure everyone knew.


Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Robert Williams said his focus since Evan Fournier arrived in Boston has been to get the new addition unleashed.


Bob


.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

bobheckler wrote:I missed the game because a friend was having a birthday party and I was commandeered.  Just looking at the boxscore today it's obvious that The Time Lord had a career night and that Fournier lit it up.

The thing I like the most, #1, in RWill's box score is that he had 8 assists and ZERO turnovers.

35 assists on 46fgm would be a stat Sam would love.  Nothing like hitting your shots to make a team feel better about their prospects and feeling better about your prospects often produces positive results.  In other words, nothing succeeds like success and winning cures a lot of ills.

Kornet with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 18 minutes.  He shot 0-3, but only 0-1 from 3.  So, there's 2 two-point fgas that didn't go in.  Could someone who watched the game tell me how a 7'2" player's 2 point fgas didn't go in?


Bob


.

Ever hear of the term role player?

Cow,

A 7'2" player, whether he's a starter or a rotation player or an end-of-bencher, should be hitting 2pt shots.


Bob


.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

bobheckler wrote:I missed the game because a friend was having a birthday party and I was commandeered.  Just looking at the boxscore today it's obvious that The Time Lord had a career night and that Fournier lit it up.

The thing I like the most, #1, in RWill's box score is that he had 8 assists and ZERO turnovers.

35 assists on 46fgm would be a stat Sam would love.  Nothing like hitting your shots to make a team feel better about their prospects and feeling better about your prospects often produces positive results.  In other words, nothing succeeds like success and winning cures a lot of ills.

Kornet with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 18 minutes.  He shot 0-3, but only 0-1 from 3.  So, there's 2 two-point fgas that didn't go in.  Could someone who watched the game tell me how a 7'2" player's 2 point fgas didn't go in?


Bob


.

Ever hear of the term role player?

They ran a fair amount of the offense through him as both a high post hand off picker, and pure high post distributor; he sees the court (height helps) and thinks the game better than most of the guys; let’s see how he does when defenses adjust and start double him. He’s been getting cut under a few times already; last night Kelly did it but not maliciously.

RW played an all around great game last night. What I loved the most was that he kept his head in the game the whole time he was on the floor, getting points off missed shots, rebounding, and scoring. The more he plays the more confidence he is gaining in his game.

My other upside was the play of Evan Fournier. He hit 7 three pointers, and never hesitated taking his shots. This, I hope and pray, is the guy I have been wishing for for three years. Someone coming off the bench and just hitting shot after shot. He will become a major part of this offense if this keeps up.

It is always fun to see the evolution of a young player on the Celtics make a big leap.

Interesting stat.  RW has scored in double digits this year whenever he gets at least  7 FGA

Now we are starting to see his teammates look for him.  It is about time.

This kid does a lot of things that makes this team better.  He makes his teammates better  at both ends of the court.

His passing skills are really impressive.  A few weeks back coach Stevens talked about needing more pace on offense.  Rob has the ability to see where the ball needs to go and just keeps making the right passes with pace.  If there is a particular aspect to his game that really stands out, it has to be how quickly he processes information and reacts.

Rob had a great March and I expect his upward trajectory to continue.  

Fournier showed why he is a good fit on this team.  He is a good shooter and understands how to play defense.

The Celtics need to put together a string of games where thy play well at both ends of the court.

Marcus Smart had 10 assists and did not shoot the ball a lot.  He played tough defense.  His play last night was the best version of himself.

I enjoyed the Globetrotter-like passing and wide open scoring that resulted in the game!  Everybody touching the ball...

Confounding.  Infuriating at times.  If we played like this all the time, we'd be 72-0 and run the table in the playoffs.

We're in every game.  Sometimes we make it difficult by digging ourselves huge holes to get out of.  Glad Evan Fournier got the first game monkey off his back in the next game.  Kid can shoot!  If we have a 6th man like that coming off the bench, look out!!

RWIII really coming into his own! Excellent game by him as well!

I know.  We can't read much into this game against a lower-half G-League team as currently assembled.  We can read a lot into the next 3 games vs. Charlotte, 76ers and the Knicks, though.  I'll gladly accept another 4-game winning streak as a result!!

This will be another gut-check, folks.  Looking forward to it!

Go Celtics!

db

bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:

bobheckler wrote:I missed the game because a friend was having a birthday party and I was commandeered.  Just looking at the boxscore today it's obvious that The Time Lord had a career night and that Fournier lit it up.

The thing I like the most, #1, in RWill's box score is that he had 8 assists and ZERO turnovers.

35 assists on 46fgm would be a stat Sam would love.  Nothing like hitting your shots to make a team feel better about their prospects and feeling better about your prospects often produces positive results.  In other words, nothing succeeds like success and winning cures a lot of ills.

Kornet with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 18 minutes.  He shot 0-3, but only 0-1 from 3.  So, there's 2 two-point fgas that didn't go in.  Could someone who watched the game tell me how a 7'2" player's 2 point fgas didn't go in?


Bob


.

Ever hear of the term role player?

Cow,

A 7'2" player, whether he's a starter or a rotation player or an end-of-bencher, should be hitting 2pt shots.


Bob


.

Really Hank Finkel was 7’2” I never expected him to hit shots

Thank God for that!!!!!! He had all he could do running down the floor with those feet!!!