Summer League takeaways: Semi shines, Williams leaves with injury

Share

Here are the three takeaways from Boston’s 95-89 summer league win against Philadelphia on Friday night. . .

SEMI OJELEYE 

After having played 70 games as a rookie last season, Ojeleye came in as the most experienced member of the Celtics roster. And that experience was on display with Ojeleye finishing with 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field. What really made his scoring impressive, was he did it in ways that we hadn’t seen much of last season. With most of his points last season being corner 3’s. But on Friday, Ojeleye scored driving to the basket in addition to raising up for pull-up jumpers off the dribble. 

 

GUERSCHON YABUSELE

It’s only a summer league game, but the confidence that Yabusele played with offensively was undeniable. He was finishing at the rim and knocking down jumpers, the last of which being a 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter that was instrumental to the Celtics coming away with the victory. He tallied 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting along with seven rebounds. However, Yabusele’s defense needs work with the second-year big man tallying seven personal fouls (players foul out after their 10th personal foul).


ROBERT WILLIAMS III 

He didn’t play much due to bumping knees in the first quarter. But in his limited minutes, it was a solid debut for the first-round pick selected by Boston with the 27th overall pick. He had four points on 2-for-4 shooting to go with two rebounds in just six minutes. And just as important, he played with good energy at both ends of the floor which was a factor in him having a plus/minus of +6 which helped shift the game’s momentum in Boston’s favor.

 

BONUS TAKEAWAY: 

JABARI BIRD

He played most of the game with the kind of aggressive, attacking-the-rim style that Boston absolutely wants to see more from him going forward. He had 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting and did a good job on the glass with eight rebounds. But the most impressive stat attached to Bird was his plus/minus number (+19) which clued you into how well the Celtics were playing when he was in the game.

NBC SPORTS BOSTON SCHEDULE

Contact Us