NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 4, 2022

Robert Williams

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. What's going through your mind mentally?

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: Just keep doing what we're doing. You don't want to have to get in the hole. Be able to make those comebacks. Keep going, keep pushing. Keep being resilient. Keep staying together. Keep doing what's gotten us this far.

Q. The conversations with Marcus, talking about the adjustments you guys wanted to make, what were the adjustments that you made that you could see the difference in the fourth?

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: We were just messing up a lot of coverages. Giving people open shots. Backdoor slips, slips to the basket, not helping each other. Stuff that’s unacceptable this late in the season.

Q. How do you feel?

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: Feeling good. I'm feeling good. Taking it day-by-day, step-by-step. Getting all the treatment I can. Doing everything I need to make sure I'm ready.

Q. Where are you percentage-wise compared to where you were pre-injury?

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: I can't give you a percentage, but I wouldn't be out there if I couldn't do what I need to do.

Q. You went for 21-for-42 from three. What's it going to take to get Game 2 and head back up 2-0?

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: Just fight. Resiliency. Staying together the whole 48 minutes I think is the biggest thing. They score. They have got great players. They score a lot. Got able to withstand runs and no lose each other. Players, coaching staff. We are not at home. We are at Golden State so we've got to stay together.

Q. What is it about this team that you guys don't break, you could be down 15, 20 points, you don't break; there's a mental toughness that's developed. How did that come to be?

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: Just carried from obviously the beginning of the season. It was like people could predict our games before it happened. We got sick of it. We started to fight with each other. And we seen that the resiliency and sticking together works.

Q. You were one of the first players during that process that was vocal about that, too, saying this isn't going to work. At the time, I was surprised that you took on that role. What made you feel confident enough to take on that role and be vocal that way?

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: Honestly just tired of losing. We were all tired of the same thing. It was a broken record. Not just me, everybody started to speak out, saying it was time for a change, and now we're together.

Q. In Game 1, were you over-amped? You saw Steph go for 21 points, and then it seemed like you calmed down and found your way.

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: That just goes back to the defensive coverages. Obviously you're not stopping everything, a player like Steph Curry, a great player. But defensive coverages needed to settle down a little bit I guess you could say.

Just lock in, like I said, stay together. It’s loud in here. You can barely hear coach talking during timeouts. Just staying together and staying in each other’s ear is the biggest thing.

Q. Draymond has his own Podcast and said after the game, basically you have to chalk it up they were on fire, shooting threes, hitting 9 of 12 threes and Al Horford, Marcus Smart and Derrick White, not guys who are known for the three, but you have to tip your cap. What do you have to say about that?

ROBERT WILLIAMS III: Hopefully we do the same thing tomorrow, you know what I'm saying. It's always a hard-fought game when we play these guys. We have to stay together for 48 minutes, and know that they are going to go on runs and we are going to go on runs, and just have to withstand them.