10:06 p.m. ET
Tim Bontemps ESPN
BOSTON — Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka said center Robert Williams will receive imaging Monday morning after sustaining a left knee sprain in the second half of Sunday night’s 134-112 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at TD Garden .
“I don’t know exactly what happened,” Udoka said after the game. “He said it wasn’t even a specific game he remembered but he came out of the game, was in some pain, obviously went back for a check up and was in quite a bit of pain and he’s being scanned in that We’ll know tomorrow and then.”
Udoka went on to say he didn’t know how long Williams would be out, aside from knowing Williams was experiencing pain on the “lateral side” of his left knee, saying that would only be determined after Monday’s scans .
Williams, who finished Sunday with 13 points, 10 rebounds, a steal and a block in 24 minutes, has been a revelation for the Celtics this season. After playing 113 total games in his first three NBA seasons due to a series of injuries, Williams — who agreed to a four-year, $50 million extension with Boston before the season began — has become an all-defensive-team contender moulted, played a career-high 61 games and averaged 10 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 73.6% from the field.
Williams has been a big part of Boston’s tear in recent months, as the Celtics are now 24-4 in their last 28 games after Sunday’s overwhelming win over Minnesota, a stretch that put the Celtics in a tie with the Miami Heat have the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Boston’s 24-4 record since Jan. 23 is the best in the NBA, and the Celtics are outpacing teams by a staggering 16.4 points per 100 possessions over that period, thanks to the best offense (119.8 points per 100 possessions) and Defense of the League (103.4). The defensive mark is a full 5.5 points per 100 possessions better than the second-place team – the same gap between second and 20th in the league during that stretch.
After Sunday’s game, the team was scheduled to fly to Toronto, where they will face off in a second-half duel against the Raptors on Monday. Williams will not make the trip, nor will his colleague Al Horford, who missed Sunday’s game for personal reasons, and Udoka said Horford is also expected to miss Monday’s game.
Udoka also said both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could also miss the game, having both made gametime decisions — but ultimately playing against Minnesota — due to right patellar tendinopathy and right knee pain, respectively.
Monday’s game in Toronto is the first the Celtics have played there since the city changed its rules on player vaccination status starting Jan. 15. Since then, unvaccinated players are no longer eligible to play games in Toronto. The most prominent example of this is Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who played his first game in New York City against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday after the city changed its vaccination laws to allow unvaccinated athletes playing for local teams to play at home.
When asked immediately after Sunday’s game whether all members of the Celtics, if healthy, would be eligible to play for Monday’s game in Toronto, the Celtics declined to comment.
After Sunday’s games, the Celtics are a half-game ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks in third and the Philadelphia 76ers in fourth East, while the Raptors are a game behind the Chicago Bulls in fifth and a game ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers in fourth seventh place – – bringing into play a first-round series between Toronto and Boston.
The playoffs are scheduled to begin on April 16 and 17, with Round 1 games 3 and 4 – which would be held in Toronto – expected to take place the following weekend.