Amari Williams stepped off a plane, into Barclays Center, and was huge in Boston's win in Brooklyn

Amari Williams played five minutes for the Celtics Friday night in Brooklyn. He made one shot, one free throw, had one assist, and one block.

He was huge.

“For Amari to be able to sit there the entire game, be ready and execute some of the plays that we've gone over in practice, it's a credit to him and the coaching staff,” Joe Mazzulla told reporters after the double-overtime win in Brooklyn.

Williams packed a lot into his five minutes. The funny thing is he thought he’d be playing closer to 30 on Friday night.

“I flew in two hours before [the game] from Maine,” Williams said. “I did the shoot around this morning, thought I was going to play there tonight. [Neemias Queta] wasn't feeling great, so I flew in today.”

Queta played, but fouled out in the fourth quarter. Luka Garza also played, but he fouled out in overtime. After a brief dalliance with going small, Joe Mazzulla subbed Williams in, for the first time, with eight seconds to go in the game. His purpose was simple. Be large, catch a Hail Mary pass, and quickly get it over to a shooter to try to score quickly without burning Boston’s last timeout.

“We call it touchdown,” Payton Pritchard said. “Amari made a good catch. It's kind of like a receiver route, and he threw it to me, pump fake, and simple as that.”

This actually might be the play of the game because it came without using a timeout. If they don't make this play, they don't have the timeout to use that sets the next play and gives Joe the chance to sub Hugo in. pic.twitter.com/t2Mi2SMtnx
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@John_Karalis) January 24, 2026

Sam Hauser made the throw, which Williams said was “on the dot,” and Pritchard was calling for it before the catch even happened, so Williams knew where to go with it. The play set up the Hugo Gonzalez miracle, which meant Williams’ night was only just getting started.

With the game tied at 120 in the second overtime, Williams read Pritchard’s drive perfectly, relocated along the baseline to give him an outlet, and finished a pass for an and-one and a three-point play. That meant the Nets still trailed after Michael Porter, Jr.’s dunk. In fact, they trailed the rest of the way, which Williams made sure of with a monster rejection with about 40 seconds left.

Rook means business 🚫

MASSIVE minute from @amxriwillixms in tonight's @JetBlue Play of the Game pic.twitter.com/8AhdgGPzYI
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 24, 2026

“It shows his character,” Pritchard said. “Sitting on the bench for like two hours, and then come in and check in? That's big time. So I think it's a culture thing.”

If nothing else, the Celtics hang their hats on two things: Guys are always ready to play, and they always play hard.

“I mean, this team, we had no choice,” Brown said. “It was not negotiable how hard we needed to play. I think Joe made that like a pivotal thing from the start of the season. And you start to notice being an NBA for a long time, playing hard is like 70% of the battle.”

Williams knew if he stayed focused and played hard, whatever minutes he got had the chance to work out. The Celtics also run the same system in Boston and in Maine, so while there is an obvious talent disparity, the language and the execution is the same no matter which of the two Celtics jerseys he’s wearing.

When the final buzzer sounded, Williams was swarmed by teammates. They knew what he’d done was special, even though games like this are destined to be erased from most fans’ memories over time. Williams hopes they are replaced by bigger, more meaningful memories at some point. But for now, these will do just fine.

“It was great,” Williams said of the postgame moment. “They always support me with whatever's happening. And a lot of them always tell me to stay ready and help me be just mentally and physically ready, especially going against them in practice and stuff. So having those guys on my back means a lot to me.”