A Robert Williams dunk delayed the Celtics' game against the Nuggets by about 30 minutes
Officials couldn't seem to get the rim level again after Robert Williams threw one down.
Robert Williams single-handedly delayed the Boston Celtics’ game against the Denver Nuggets by about a half hour.
Williams caught a pass and threw down an alley-oop midway through the fourth quarter of Boston's 123-111 loss to the Nuggets at Ball Arena on Sunday night, and hung on the rim a bit before landing on his feet.
That last part, it turned out, ruined the rim.
"I didn't know I did it until my teammates started blaming me," Williams said, via ESPN.
Officials quickly stopped the game to go fix the rim, something that proved to be difficult.
The game between the Celtics and the Nuggets has been delayed for over 20 minutes now because the rim is uneven.
The rim got messed up on this alley-oop dunk by Robert Williams 🤣pic.twitter.com/28kVleChU0— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 2, 2023
Rim rockin'😳 pic.twitter.com/ZzyzlvRDgv
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 2, 2023
After more than 30 minutes, officials finally got the rim balanced so that the game could resume.
THE RIM IS FIXED
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) January 2, 2023
"There was no communication," Celtics guard Jaylen Brown said, via ESPN. "They spent all that time trying to fix it, but when we came back, it still looked like it wasn't even level, in my opinion. So we just wasted all that time.
"That has an effect on the game. That's how injuries and stuff happen. Luckily, that didn't [happen], but that wasn't good. That whole process was handled poorly, in my opinion, and that had an effect as well. But luckily nobody got hurt."
The break wasn’t a total waste. Deandre Jordan managed to have a bit of fun with a young fan sitting courtside.
DeAndre Jordan playing Rock Paper Scissors with a fan during the Celtics-Nuggets delay 😆 pic.twitter.com/kXpmtxjPVu
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 2, 2023
The Nuggets, after leading nearly the entire way, held a 110-97 lead when the game was delayed. They cruised to the 12-point win — the 10th in their past 12 — behind a 30-point, 12 rebound, 12 assist triple-double from Nikola Jokic.
Williams finished with eight points and six rebounds off the bench for Boston, which kicked off a four-game road trip on Sunday night. Brown led the Celtics with 30 points and eight rebounds, and Jayson Tatum added 25 points while shooting 7-of-16 from the field.
