NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 12, 2022

Robert Williams

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. How are you feeling?

ROBERT WILLIAMS: Feeling good. I'm guessing you're talking about my knee. But feeling good. Feeling good. A little sore, but on the side of the better days.

Q. What happened there late in the fourth quarter the other night? Looked like when a contested shot came down, you kind of landed on it and looked like you had to ask out -- what happened there?

ROBERT WILLIAMS: Yeah, I was actually looking for the clip. I can't necessarily tell you if it was the jumping or the landing, but typical soreness, man. But like I said, I feel okay.

Q. Grant was saying basically that your game plan for this is that you've got to make them go against a set defense. Is that kind of what it is, that you've got to slow the pace down and finish?

ROBERT WILLIAMS: You know, we just have to execute, man, make the reads, don't get tired of doing what works. In my opinion, obviously step up the physicality. They're killing us on the glass again. It's a lot of emphasis we're putting on a lot of different stuff. But mainly it's physicality and execution.

Q. Just a few games left here. Seems like pressure ramps up, every mistake gets magnified. How do you guys keep it together? We know a lot of the mistakes that you're making are self-inflicted.

ROBERT WILLIAMS: Yeah, someone was talking about today, like I go back to the emphasis point, just putting emphasis on the purpose of the possession. Like you said, everything is magnified now, so every possession is way more purposeful, and we need to just realize that.

Q. When you're defending a Curry pick-and-roll, you're trying to figure out how far back in the screen you want to be, are you looking for the spot on the floor you want to get to or are you trying to read the distance from the screener?

ROBERT WILLIAMS: It's tough when you're guarding his pick-and-roll. But just reading him, not necessarily the spots you want to be in. You're just trying to read him. You can't give him too much space. You know you can't press up on him too much.

Q. As part of how you're dropping, are you worried that he's going to cut back the other way if you try to go too far to one side of the screen?

ROBERT WILLIAMS: No, it's just our game plan, sticking to the game plan. Obviously you want to take his shots away, but can't give up everything else, those little lay-ups and back doors.

Q. How are you doing on the mental side of the game when it comes to navigating your knee? You're fighting through this thing and I'm sure it's got to be frustrating, minute to minute, quarter to quarter when you don't know what's there. Maybe you feel something and that impacts where your head is at a little bit. It seems really challenging to go through.

ROBERT WILLIAMS: To be honest, I don't even think about it anymore when I'm on the court. Been playing almost the whole playoffs basically. Obviously, it's tough to deal with, but I don't really think about it on the court. I guess you could say my adrenaline is carrying me thankfully.

Q. It seems like when you're in the dunker spot, you guys haven't been able to connect on those alley-oops as much as you have in the past. What is it about the way they're defending you in that spot that's getting them in between you and the pass?

ROBERT WILLIAMS: Yeah, that just goes back to what I said about making the right reads. Certain things they like to take away defensively. Can't take away everything, so just make the right reads, don't get tired of what was working.