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Celtics teammates stunned by two-way center in win over Pistons
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- Celtics teammates stunned by two-way center in win over Pistons
BOSTON — Three days ago, Amari Williams was playing big minutes for the Maine Celtics. On Wednesday night, he played a crucial role in helping the Boston Celtics end the Pistons’ 13-game winning streak at TD Garden. The rookie center successfully boxed out Jalen Duren on a potential game-tying free throw by Cade Cunningham with four seconds remaining, allowing Payton Pritchard to corral the rebound and secure a 117-114 victory.
It was one of several key plays for the big man, who matched up with Jalen Duren for the first 15 meaningful minutes of his Celtics career coming off the bench. Williams’ modest box score line (one point, three rebounds, two blocks) doesn’t tell the full story of his impact as Boston played without their starting center, Neemias Queta , due to an ankle injury.
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“I thought he was great,” Derrick White said. “I mean, Duren’s one of the best bigs in the league right now, and him and Stewart, those are guys that — it’s a physical game down there, and he came in, held his own, changed some shots around the basket, blocked some shots and gave us some really good minutes in there when we needed them. So credit to him to come in — he was with us in practice yesterday — but to come in his first (real minutes). ‘Welcome to the NBA, you get Jalen Duren. Figure it out.’”
Duren was unable to get going offensively in the matchup, posting just 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting in the loss. Boston also played Luka Garza for the start of each half to match up with Duren but went with Williams and small ball options like Josh Minott and Jordan Walsh for the rest of the game.
Given the stakes of the matchup, Williams earned high praise for how he responded to the tough assignment.
“That was impressive from Amari, I’m not going to lie,” Brown said. “He hasn’t been with us. A lot of pressure, high profile game. To come in and make an impact, credit to him. But he did well for us. Amari has talent, he can pass the ball. He’s a big guy, knows the game, but that was a big-time performance for him.”
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Joe Mazzulla credited Williams and his coaching staff in Maine for creating the environment that allowed a smooth transition to be made. Williams had only played seven minutes in the NBA before Wednesday night, all coming in garbage time.
“It starts with Amari just being able to play those 15 minutes,” Mazzulla said. “It trickles down to the connectivity of Maine, and the work that Phil does, and their assistants, and then just our player development staff, just the continuity for the ability for a guy to step right in and know the plays, know the coverages, all the pre-game work that the player development staff does on the court, and then with personnel.
“That’s just kind of a testament to the alignment - one to Amari’s mindset, but also to the staff. So I think all those things combined felt just as comfortable for him to be on the floor tonight. I thought he did some good stuff.”
Williams looks to be a strong candidate for more opportunity in the coming days, given the state of Boston’s frontcourt. Neemias Queta remains day-to-day as he recovers from a sprained ankle and with five games upcoming in seven nights starting on Saturday, it’s safe to guess Boston will be shorthanded at center for some of those contests amid his recovery. The next challenge comes on Saturday night for Williams, facing off against Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road.
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