There are very few things as painful for someone as getting hit in the groin. It’s not just something that brings massive pain, there’s no instant relief in sight either, and there’s a bit of an embarrassment factor considering how vulnerable it can leave you. That being said, in contact sports like basketball, it’s something of an inevitability, and players simply have to deal with it and shake it off sometimes.
It’s happened twice in these playoffs already, where a player has been hit in the tenders. Jae Crowder received a flagrant for kicking out unnaturally and catching Luka Doncic in the area, incidentally drawing a comment from Draymond Green, while Robert Williams III of the Celtics caught one from Giannis Antetokounmpo’s trailing leg. While it was likely far from funny for him when it happened, Williams was comfortable joking about it in the press conference after the game.
“Thankfully I made it out, but umm, the trainers was saying, ‘Let’s go to the back and check it out’. I’m like, ‘Check out what?’ Nah, it’s a stinger, man.”
The play is bound to have hurt Williams, but it’s one of those things that simply have to be fixed by time. Williams has had a few health concerns during his time with the Boston Celtics that have seen him miss stretches of games, but this one is quite unlikely to have any lasting impact.
The Celtics will need the big man firing on all cylinders if they are to compete with the Milwaukee Bucks inside the paint, the Bucks dominated in the interior on both ends of the court. Williams will be crucial to that and if he can be kept in the game for longer than the 22 minutes he played last night, could be a key factor between a series win and a series loss.
