The Boston Celtics, led by Jayson Tatum, have advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs after easily defeating the Miami Heat in five games without the services of Jimmy Butler this past Wednesday.Tatum didn’t need to perform superhuman feats in that series; instead, the supporting cast of the Cleveland Cavaliers, which included individual outbursts from Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis, provided him with plenty of assistance until the big man sustained an injury. Since adding Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in the offseason, this Celtics team has been the best in the NBA. Holiday struggled offensively against the Heat but had an outstanding series defensively. Grant Williams was one important player from previous seasons who did not rejoin the Celtics in 2023–2024. Williams was a reliable player off the Boston bench for a few years, but it seems that his brash demeanour occasionally offended people. Williams recently responded to some of the apparent disrespect he’s experienced from the Celtics since leaving the team, notably the absence of a video tribute upon his return, by stopping by the Cedric Maxwell Podcast with none other than Celtics great Cedric Maxwell. According to Celtics on CLNS on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Williams expressed disappointment, saying, “I was a little bit disappointed just because I feel like there were some great years in those four years that I was there. I was a kid that got drafted there and I was a kid that grew up there.” A fascinating term During his peculiar time with the Celtics, Grant Williams experienced both extreme highs and lows. To appreciate just how big of an influence Williams could have at times, one just needs to watch Game 7 of the 2022 conference semifinals against the Milwaukee Bucks, where Williams scored an astounding 27 points to send the Celtics to the next round. Then, there were some less fulfilling times, like the two free throws he missed in a 2023 game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, even though he had only moments earlier told Cavs shooter Donovan Mitchell that he would make both. Additionally, Williams’ trash talk appeared to be the cause of the altercation he had with Jimmy Butler in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which in turn led to Butler going on a personal mini-run that put the Heat ahead 2-0 in that series. Either way, some have conjectured that organisations with a history as legendary as the Celtics save their tribute videos for real franchise icons—even if they weren’t necessarily elite players—like Marcus Smart’s overwhelming reception upon his return to Boston earlier this year. Regarding Williams, he was traded to the Charlotte Hornets, where he is still a member, by the Dallas Mavericks, who had initially recruited him as a free agent. It seems unlikely that the tense relationship between Williams and the Celtics will ease very soon.
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