It has been a rough week or so for everybody associated with the Boston Celtics due to the whole Ime Udoka situation. 2022 had been going exceptionally well for the Celtics as they made it to the NBA Finals and established themselves as one of the best teams in the league, but the Udoka scandal has left some dark clouds hovering over them.
The players are trying to put all of it to the side as they prepare for the new season in the hopes of going one step further and winning it all in 2023. One of the big reasons why the Celtics were so good was the emergence of Robert Williams III as one of the best defensive big men in the league. While his teammate Marcus Smart came away with Defensive Player of the Year honors, you’d still say Williams is their best and most important player on that end of the floor. He was the anchor for the best defense in the league and his injury issues during the postseason were one of the bigger talking points back then.
Robert Williams III Doesn’t Regret Playing Through Injury In The NBA Finals
Williams was hampered by knee issues that even led to him missing some games against the Bucks and the Heat. He was determined to come back, however, and played through the injury the rest of the way. He was informed by doctors that he couldn’t make his knee any worse by playing on, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, as his knee is still bothering him and he will miss 2 months or so after undergoing surgery earlier this month. Williams during media day, however, stated that he does not regret playing through it as it meant he could play in the NBA Finals.
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“I played in the Finals, homie. You win some, you lose some but I don’t regret my decision at all. I was 24 years old, my dreams were playing the Finals, can’t really regret that sh**.
It is a dream for so many of these guys to play in the NBA Finals and have a shot at winning a title, that they are willing to take some risks, as Williams did. You can never take for granted that you’ll be back on this stage, so when you do get there, you want to play, which is very understandable. Hopefully, this doesn’t affect Williams in the long run, and he manages to have a long and successful career.
During this media day for the Celtics, the players also spoke about the Udoka situation, with Jayson Tatum saying he found out about it on Twitter while Jaylen Brown added that a lot of the information hasn’t been shared with them.
