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NEW YORK -- To truly understand the significance of Terrence Williams logging valuable (nay, critical) floor time in the Boston Celtics' Game 5 triumph over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, you have to understand just how far he's come since joining the team.

During his Boston debut in late February in Los Angeles, Williams committed a double-dribble, the sort of elementary miscue that typically rears its head in youth basketball games. Fast-forward two months and here is Williams on the NBA's playoff stage, being called upon to be a steadying presence for a Celtics team devoid of a pure ball-handler.

"When I came back from China, I was at home for probably 2½ weeks, I didn't touch a basketball when I was at home," said Williams, the former lottery pick (11th overall, 2009 draft) who signed with the Guangdong Southern Tigers at the start of the 2012-13 season with no viable NBA option.

"Let's be honest, I ran, but I didn't touch a basketball. I don't know if you guys remember, I played in the Lakers game and I double-dribbled because I wasn't used to dribbling the ball again. That's why I carry my ball everywhere now. That's how it happened."

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By embracing his role as a backup point guard, Terrence Williams is carving out a role that could finally maximize his potential:


An excerpt from the featured story:

* A POINT OF EMPHASIS: There's a lot for Boston to like in what we've seen from Williams lately. That includes how he has been able to push the ball hard and create easy scoring chances in transition when defenders don't step up to stop the ball. "All we've asked him to do is, every time [Williams gets] it, be a locomotive. Literally," explained Rivers. "Be a locomotive: Run straight down the middle of the floor as fast as you can, and if someone gets in your way then that means someone else will be open. And he did it twice [on Friday night against Atlanta] and went coast-to-coast with dunks. When you look at his body, there's not a lot of guys that want to get in front of that."

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Jordan Crawford's been with the Celtics a little less than two weeks, but he's no longer alone in his quest to adapt to his new surroundings.

Boston now has a small contingent of players -- Crawford, Terrence Williams, D.J. White, and Shavlik Randolph -- working towards the same goal: Learning the sets with an eye towards being able to contribute when or if called upon.

On top of their usual practice responsibilities with the whole team, the four-man group has gotten together before and after official sessions to scrimmage and repeatedly run through offensive and defensive plays under the watchful eyes of the Celtics' coaching staff. Monday saw them gather roughly a half hour before the team's full-squad session so that they could work on a handful of sets before joining the regulars.

"We're just really going over the plays," Randolph said. "We've only really had like a couple team settings to learn the things, so we're just trying to get repetitions of the plays so we can know them better."

Randolph and White are still working on 10-day contracts, while Williams recently agreed to a deal that'll keep him here for the rest of the season. Crawford and Randolph both admitted that having four players all in the same scenario has made the adjustment process easier to deal with.

"(The regulars have) been here for a minute, so they know everything and the new players can come in and get adjusted while (the regulars) don't have to come in and help us out," Crawford said. "It makes it easier."

Added Randolph: "It definitely makes it easier that there's a couple other people in similar situations coming in, not really knowing much, and not being alone in that aspect."

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Terrence Williams parlayed summer workouts and a 10-day tryout into a future in Boston:

As they demonstrated in the Celtics' 113-88 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, Terrence Williams and Jordan Crawford have different games -- Williams is a more complete player while Crawford is a gunning scorer -- but their circumstances with the Celtics aren't so far apart.

They came to Boston as low-risk, high-reward investments. Williams is on a 10-day contract after finishing a season in China, while the Celtics only had to give up an injured Leandro Barbosa and Jason Collins for Crawford's services in a trade on Thursday. Their physical abilities have never been put into question -- heck, Crawford's dunked on LeBron James before -- but they both join the Celtics having, at one point or another, battled reputations of immaturity and selfishness.

As such, the immediate impact the Celtics could have on Williams and Crawford could be greater than those they'll have on their new club. Boston's hoping that, in time, the benefits will balance each other out.

After being selected 11th overall in the 2009 draft by the New Jersey Nets, Williams showed flashes of the talent that made him a lottery pick, but ultimately didn't stick, and bounced around to several other destinations -- Houston, Sacramento, Detroit -- before heading off to play in the Chinese Basketball Association last year. One of the first things Williams acknowledged when he spoke with Boston reporters was how quickly his mindset changed when he got to China. It was an eye-opening experience for the Louisville product, who noted that he maybe didn't take his job as a professional player seriously enough when he first entered the NBA.

"I think that's what made everything go downhill -- not being a professional," Williams said prior to Boston's 113-99 loss to the Lakers Wednesday. "I was young, 20-whatever, money, and not really caring -- I cared about playing basketball, but I didn't care about putting the work into basketball. Now, if you go to China, even for a day, you learn how to be a professional. You want to come back so fast."

For Williams, the Celtics are something of a reset button; a second chance to wade into the NBA waters and prove he can stay afloat with the rest. That Boston is also a solid fit for Williams' apparent strengths is something of a lifebuoy. At 6-foot-6, Williams doesn't have the build of a typical point guard, but what's shined through most in his first two games is his play making ability. Against the Lakers he found open teammates with several sleek passes, and, in Friday's win over Phoenix, his passing was decisive and on-point, almost seeming premeditated at times, given how quickly the ball left his hands.

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PHOENIX -- Pity the poor traveler who had the adjoining suite next to Kevin Garnett in Phoenix on Friday night.

Garnett indulged in a rare night off -- his first of the season -- after coach Doc Rivers asked him to rest his weary legs as Boston visited the Suns. But Garnett isn't the type to retreat to the spa, and he almost certainly spent the night holed up watching the TV broadcast and likely shook the hotel with every encouraging sight from his teammates.

And, oh, there were plenty of them. Jeff Green, starting in place of Garnett, erupted for a season-high 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting, while newcomers Jordan Crawford and Terrence Williams highlighted a well-rounded bench effort as the Celtics stomped the Suns 113-88 at the US Airways Center.

There was never going to be a good time to rest Garnett, whose legs have simply never quite bounced back since playing 47 minutes in a triple-overtime win over the Denver Nuggets earlier this month.

Garnett, who has hinted he's battling some minor maladies as well, looked gassed for much of Wednesday's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and Rivers lamented not sitting him then -- as impossible as it was to consider holding Garnett out in a rivalry game.

So even with his team 0-2 to start a daunting five-game road trip, Rivers swallowed hard and asked the 36-year-old to take a vacation day. The fact that Garnett obliged speaks volumes itself of how needed the break was.

And in what some veterans dubbed a must-win game, the entire roster stepped up against an overmatched Phoenix squad.

Green was otherworldly, adding seven rebounds, five blocks, and four assists to his stat line over 39 minutes. Chris Wilcox, pulled aside by Rivers earlier in the day and implored to up his level of play, responded by registering 14 points and eight rebounds in 22 high-energy minutes. Jordan Crawford came as advertised, chipping in 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists in 17 minutes (despite no familiarity with the playbook), while Terrence Williams continues to show versatility that makes it seem like a crime that he was out of the league until this point.

"It was just a good win, a feel-good win for all the guys," gushed Rivers. "The new guys played great. Jeff was phenomenal. We started the game running a set that we had never ran in our lives. We drew it up literally right before the first play, but they just had the basketball IQ to keep working and they actually showed us options that I didn't know we had.

"It was just a good feel-good win, everyone did their job. Courtney Lee, all the guards rebounded and stayed in there. Because Jeff got off to the start, it forced [the Suns] to have to match up. Then it was a small game, and that's the only way we could be. So that was good for us."

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LOS ANGELES -- Terrence Williams spent two weeks with the Celtics this summer working out in hopes of landing a roster spot before training camp. He was admittedly a bit crestfallen when nothing materialized from that tryout and suggested he "shed a tear" because he had dreamed of playing for a team with a storied history.

It took about seven months and an eye-opening stint in China, but 25-year-old Williams got his opportunity Wednesday when the injury-depleted Celtics formally announced his signing to a 10-day contract.

"It’s an honor to even be able to wear the color, and be a part of the organization," Williams said before Wednesday's 113-99 loss to the rival Lakers. "Especially with the history. I’m still in shock, but I need to get out of shock and relatively fast, because we have a game coming up."

Aided by the Lakers' lopsided lead, Williams got nearly 13 minutes of second-half floor time and responded by posting two points, two rebounds and two assists in a solid debut that left coach Doc Rivers raving about his diverse skill set.

"I thought he ran our offense that we didn’t have better than anyone else tonight," quipped Rivers. "He was good. You can see some of the [talents], he’s a great ball-mover. I thought he was real tentative at times, coming off the picks. But again, we talked about it before the game, you have [veteran players] on the floor, you kinda just want to fit in.

"Where I was really happy with him is I thought he defended. I thought he showed a little bit of fight, and that’s the first thing I told him. He’s got a reputation for being athletic, but he should be a great defender, and I told him, I want to see that. And I thought he did that."

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The Boston Celtics formally announced the signing of 25-year-old swingman Terrence Williams to a 10-day contract on Wednesday.

Williams, who joined the team in Denver, has received his clearance letter from China and is expected to be available for Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers. He will wear No. 55.

The 6-foot-6 Williams has appeared in 129 NBA games, averaging 7.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists over 20.2 minutes per game. The 11th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Williams spent a season-plus in New Jersey before stops in Houston and Sacramento. After being cut by Detroit out of training camp, Williams spent much of this season overseas in China. He averaged 17.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.2 steals in 29 games for the Guangdong Southern Tigers.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers had hinted last week that the Celtics would target the best available body instead of a position-specific target. While Boston has needs for a ball-handler and frontcourt help after losing All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo, rookie forward Jared Sullinger, and reserve guard Leandro Barbosa, they appear to be giving first crack to one of the most skilled players available.

Williams can handle the ball well for his size and is a solid distributor and he's solid on the glass, utilizing his athleticism to be a competitive rebounder.

For more on Williams, hop HERE.