Boston Celtics guard Derrick White aptly summed up Friday’s game vs. the Charlotte Hornets in just a few words during his postgame interview.
“That stuff at the end was BS, but we got the win,” he told NBC Sports Boston’s Kayla Burton.
Boston earned a 124-109 victory in Charlotte, but the final result was overshadowed by a chippy fourth quarter. Former Celtic Grant Williams was ejected with a Flagrant 2 after body-checking his ex-teammate Jayson Tatum. The Celtics star immediately got up and went to the free throw line, but Jaylen Brown was visibly upset with Williams’ antics.
“I don’t know what that was about. I think that spoke for itself,” Brown said. “That wasn’t a basketball play. Grant knows better than that. … There’s no place in the game for that. I thought JT and Grant were friends. I guess not.”
Williams told NBC Sports Boston’s Kayla Burton after the game that his hard foul wasn’t intentional, adding that he and Tatum are good friends.
“Probably a hard foul, definitely not intentional, definitely not trying to hurt him by any means,” Williams told Burton. “We all know that’s one of my closest friends in the league.”
Brown isn’t buying Williams’ claim that the foul was unintentional, however.
“It was for sure intentional,” he said. “What are we talking about? Did ya’ll see the same play? He hit him like it was a football play, Ray Lewis coming across the middle or something.”
Head coach Joe Mazzulla was more even-keeled when asked about Williams’ hit on Tatum after the game.
“I’m glad that (Tatum’s) fine,” Mazzulla said. “What I like most is how he jumped right up, didn’t lay around, it didn’t really faze him. Just got right up, went to the foul line, and did his business.
“I just like how JT handled it,” he added. “It was great. To get hit like that, pop right back up, it’s big time.”
The Hornets continued to melt down after Williams’ ejection. LaMelo Ball fouled out after being hit with a Flagrant 1, and Miles Bridges was tossed after getting a double-technical. All of this occurred in the final 2:02 of the game.
It remains to be seen whether Williams will face discipline for his controversial play, but it may have changed his postgame plans; Williams told Burton that he actually had planned to host several Celtics players for dinner after the game.
“I would assume most of those guys won’t be coming over for dinner tonight,” Williams told Burton. “… I had wings and stuff prepared, so it’s kind of funny that the game ended that way. But I’ll see them tomorrow; we’ll compete again.”
We can expect more fireworks when these two teams face off again Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. Coverage begins on NBC Sports Boston at 5:30 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live.