Boston Celtics center Robert Williams has been battling through a left knee injury in the NBA Finals. One former Celtics player who can relate to playing through injuries in the playoffs is Isaiah Thomas, who fought through a hip injury back in 2017.
While their injuries are different, with Williams experiencing knee soreness, and Thomas playing through a torn labrum in his hip, the former Celtics All-Star threw some shade at a recent injury report suggesting Williams isn’t at risk of making his injury any worse than it already is.
The Yahoo sports report notes “The medical staff has ensured him that he is not at further risk of worsening the repaired knee. It’s all a matter of pain tolerance”.
Who knows whether Thomas is sincere with his comment or whether this is truly a joke as he takes a playful jab at his own career. Either way, it’s a reminder of just how dangerous playing through injuries can be, even if they don’t seem so severe in the heat of the moment.
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Isaiah Thomas may be right, about his career anyway
Thomas, having played 179 of his 550 career NBA games with the Celtics, is quite familiar with how the team has operated in the past. In fact, it’s possible the team’s medical staff continues to handle injuries in a similar way.
After making the playoffs in consecutive seasons with the Celtics from 2016 to 2017 scoring 24.7 points per game, Thomas never again averaged anything above 15.2 PPG or made more than 40 appearances in a season.
Still, just because IT experienced some additional medical hardships, it doesn’t mean Robert Williams will suffer the same fate.
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