Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka responded to Brooklyn’s swingman Bruce Brown saying Boston’s defense will not be the same without Robert Williams.
Ime Udoka knows a tall task awaits the Celtics defense as they’ll try to contain Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in a seven-game series. However, he thinks Brown’s comment after Nets’ win vs Cavs holds no water.
“We still have two high-level defenders back there, big guys with Daniel and Al, and we have layers to our defense,” Udoka told reporters Wednesday. “So it’s not like we’re getting blown by and Rob is protecting, we still have Marcus, Jaylen, Jayson and everybody else in between.”
The Celtics were the best defensive team in the league during the regular season allowing just 106.2 points per 100 possessions. That was not just because Robert Williams was sweeping the paint.
The quartet of Horford, Smart, Brown and Tatum outscored opponents by 16.3 points per 100 possessions in the 660 minutes they spend together in the court. During that span, the Celtics had a Def Rtg of 98.8 points per 100 possessions.
So attacking the paint and finding easy buckets will not be so simple for the Brooklyn Nets. Brown noted the Nets have to be focused on defense and not let Tatum dominate the game.
“I mean, we can’t let Tatum get 50,” Brown noted. “We got to be physical with them. Now they don’t have Robert Williams so they have less of a presence in the paint. We can attack Al Horford and Theis. Them not having Rob Williams is huge.”
Williams missed Celtics’ last seven games of the regular season with injury. Boston went 4-3 in those games but, they rested many players ahead of the postseason.
The Celtics will have their full lineup available for the matchup outside of Rob Williams, who continues to progress in his rehab and he will be available at some point during the playoffs.
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