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Some underlying jealousy seems to have unfolded between Grant Williams and the Celtics on Friday in the form of what Jaylen Brown called a “football play.”
With just over two minutes remaining in the game and the Celtics leading the Hornets, 114-105, Jayson Tatum grabbed a defensive board and dribbled the ball up the court just before Williams laid out his former teammate with a shoulder check at half court in what was a wild scene.
There was no question of the foul call. Williams seemed to not be going for the ball as he hit Tatum on his left shoulder when the ball was in his right hand. Williams was called for a flagrant 2 on the play.
After the incident, Tatum remained calm, walking away with no confrontation. On the other hand, Brown was yelling at Williams as he left the court and didn’t hold back in the postgame press conference either.
“It was for sure intentional, what are we talking about here? He hit him like it was a football play,” he told reporters. “Like Ray Lewis coming across the middle. It is what it is. Grant know better than that.”
“Actions speak loud so it is what it is,” Brown continued. “We got the win, we move on, but there’s no place in the game for that. I thought JT and Grant was friends. I guess not.”
Williams, who was a Celtic for four seasons, was called for a Flagrant 2 foul with the official ruling it a “non-basketball play,” and he was ejected from the game that saw Boston beat Charlotte 124-109.
Williams told NBC that the foul was “definitely not intentional” and called Tatum “one of my closest friends in the league.”
“I think it was more so he didn’t see me more than anything else,” Williams said. “Like, I’m reaching, and I definitely made contact with the body before I reached.”
Williams and Tatum were teammates for four seasons in Boston from 2019-2023. Before the game on Friday, Williams commented on the Celtics winning the 2024 NBA title and said there is no “bad blood” between him and his former team.
“Honestly, I didn’t really feel down because I left Boston,” Williams told reporters. “I wasn’t one of those, where, if I had gotten traded out of there, like there was some bad blood, it’d been different.”
Tatum led the Celtics with a double-double of 32 points and 11 rebounds as they won their fifth game of the season.
Williams racked up five personal fouls before he was ejected, along with six points and seven rebounds.
