The Celtics were forced to go a little deeper into their bench on Monday night after starters Robert Williams and Marcus Smart were suspended for the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
While Smart’s incontinence (non-COVID disease) did not cause any concern, Williams’ condition after an unplanned day certainly raised some eyebrows due to his past durability issues. However, Ime Udoka stresses that his inconvenience due to knee tendinitis is not expected to be a long term issue.
“He had a flare with some tendinitis, especially in the praise game (Sunday) night,” Udoka said before the victory. “I saw how it happened. Jump off the wrong leg and I saw him rub it and it’s a little swollen, so, give him the night off.
The Celtics are set to face off against Rudy Gobert and the Jazz on Wednesday night back at TD Garden and Udoka fully expects Boston to be back at full strength in the run-up to that matchup.
“Nah, you would not think so,” Udoka said of Williams, who was missing more time. “He had some tendinitis problems. It usually calms down pretty quickly.”
Without the two starting lineup, Udoka headed in for more difficult minutes for veterans Daniel Theis and Derrick White against the Thunder, and praised the duo for strong outings after the win, along with Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard.
“Boys went up, played well,” Udoka said. “Two different guys start of course, and then Payton what he did off the bench. Daniel too. So we two went out with Marcus and Rob. We had two other veterans who could come along, kind of spell them and others. Guys who step up. Jaylen and Jayson did what they do but to see Derrick 18, 5 and 5. And Jaylen did what he does too. But I think Payton was on a hot track and the guys are looking for him.So I’m happy with all the contributions, more offensively than defensively in the second half.
Aaron Nesmith misses chance on return
The second-year winger was finally cleared to return to action by team doctors on Monday night after missing players for several weeks due to a dead ankle.
“No restrictions,” said Udoka of Nesmith’s status. “He went through his progress, he was up and down, so he was pain free one day and then more painful the next day and he had a really good day today. So nothing as far as minutes, it’s just a pain -Tolerance thing.That’s what it is, he’s cut off different directions, and now he feels comfortable with that, we’re good to throw him out.
Even though Boston missed a pair of rotating bodies, Udoka decided to stay away from the 6-foot-5 guard against Oklahoma City, opting to play rookie forward Sam Hauser instead in the first half.
Udoka’s hope was to give Nesmith some low pressure in the second half, but a surprising Thunder comeback in the fourth quarter prevented that.
“We wanted to get him a few minutes, and that would have been the plan if the fourth hadn’t come so close,” Udoka said. “We went with Sam over him in the first half, then, like I said, the plan was to reach him in the fourth quarter until the lead there shrank.”
Nesmith’s next chance to play will come on Wednesday night, but his chances of making his way back into the rotation with nine players in the regular season seem slim with Boston at this point healthy.
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