Boston Celtics big man Robert Williams just made all kinds of NBA history in Game 1 against the Brooklyn Nets.
But circle back a few hours and he nearly didn't even play. The Celtics center was questionable for his lingering turf toe issue that's forced him to miss a good chunk of the regular season.
Celtics list Robert Williams as questionable for Game 1 due to turf toe.
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) May 21, 2021
Brad Stevens gave a positive update on Time Lord moments before the game, per Celtics' beat reporter Chris Forsberg.
“Robert’s going to come and give it a go. His intent is to play but we’ll see. Very much a game-time decision after warm ups.”
The Celtics were sure glad he played. Robert Williams was just a man among boys, block shots left and right against an undersized Brooklyn Nets team. Peep this insane recovery for his 8th block of the game:
That second jump is just absurd 😳
That's a new @celtics #NBAPlayoffs record 8 BLOCKS for Robert Williams III. pic.twitter.com/sGNwfwAC82
— NBA (@NBA) May 23, 2021
But if you ask Williams himself, he wasn't too happy given the Celtics squandered their double-digit lead to lost the game in the second half
“No, actually I haven’t gotten this many blocks in a game ever. But it don’t mean shit if we losing, man.”
Robert Williams said he never blocked that many shots in a game before.
"But it don't mean shit if we losing man."
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) May 23, 2021
Nevertheless, the nine blocks he recorded goes down not just in Celtics history, but matches NBA records in the process.
According to @EliasSports Robert Williams III 9 blocks are the most by a player off the bench in a playoff game since blocks became official in 1974. pic.twitter.com/5vsZbcCCun
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 23, 2021
Robert Williams has 9 blocks in 21 minutes with 2 mins to play.
Playoff record is 10. Here are the minutes played by those players in those games:
Bynum – 36 mins
Eaton – 40 mins
Hakeem – 43 mins— Niku Mistry – 22/23 NBA Almanac OUT NOW (@MistryNBA) May 23, 2021
Robert Williams III set a @celtics #NBAPlayoffs record with 9 blocks tonight.
The last player to reach 9 blocks in an #NBAPlayoffs game was Andrew Bynum (10 blocks on April 29, 2012). @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/Gtg1tnPapb
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) May 23, 2021
Boston will get a shot at redemption against the Nets in Game 2. Let's see if Time Lord can one-up himself for that one.
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