BOSTON — Before taking on the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7, Grant Williams was convinced the Boston Celtics’ season wouldn’t succumb to the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, 14-time All-Star James Harden, and the Sixers despite the Celtics’ uphill battle of climbing out of a 3-2 hole in the second round of their best-of-7 series.
Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum, who salvaged Boston’s season when he scored 14 points in the last five minutes of Celtics’ 95-86 win in Game 6, spoke seven words reassuring Williams ahead of the season’s biggest game.
“He told me, “We won’t be going home tonight,” so I was like, ‘Perfect,’ sounds good to me,” Williams told CLNS Media after the Celtics’ 112-88 series-clinching win on Sunday. “I just knew we were going to win.”
Tatum’s 51-point masterclass performance on 17-of-28 attempts, including 6-for-10 from deep and 11-of-14 from the free-throw line, carried the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals. His 51 points are the most in Game 7 history, fittingly topping the 50-point mark set by Golden State Warriors champion Steph Curry two weeks prior while setting a new playoff career high.
With 3:23 left in Game 7, as Tatum was taking in his well-deserved standing ovation from Celtics’ faithful while walking across the parquet floor, off Joe Mazzulla‘s bench entered Grant Williams checking into a game for the first time since Boston’s 115-103 loss in Game 5. The two embraced one another shortly before Williams put the finishing touches on a lopsided game already decided.
Earning meaningful playing time throughout these playoffs has been a struggle for Grant. After playing in merely two of the Celtics’ six-game first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, Williams was seemingly out of Mazzulla’s doghouse by Game 3 against Philly.
He registered 12 points on 4-of-8 from deep, with four rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes before going 0-for-3 in Game 4 — when Grant clocked in 20+ minutes but hasn’t played much ever since.
“You play when you’re asked to play,” Williams said about Mazzulla’s decision to bench him. “Coach makes those decisions. I’m focused on the team winning, making sure we have the best opportunity to do that, whether that’s being on the bench and cheering or whether that’s me playing.”
When asked if he and Mazzulla shared a conversation over playing time or if the topic was ever addressed throughout the Celtics’ second-round series, Grant says he wasn’t given a reason for the decision.
“No idea,” Williams told CLNS Media. “Just going to keep in (my) head, ‘you’re a player.’ So, I play.”
Would you be shocked if you didn’t play in the Eastern Conference Finals?
“I have no idea. I’m a player, and I do what I do,” Williams replied with a smile. “Coaches make those decisions, and whatever he decides, I’ll be good with.”
At this stage in the postseason, with Boston locked into a 2022 Eastern Conference Final rematch against the Miami Heat, Grant knows Mazzulla and the Celtics’ coaching staff have a better feel for what’s best for the team and will use their better judgment to determine which players crack its rotation. He knows these decisions are out of his hands.
Joe’s most significant adjustment against the Sixers was reverting to a double-big lineup, which favored starting Robert Williams III over Derrick White in Games 6 and 7. But will Mazzulla consider reverting to playing Grant off the bench against the Heat?
“Coaches trust what they trust, and they made a great decision in these last two to win it,” Williams added. “So, as long as we win it — that’s my No. 1 priority for this team; a championship.”
As for this year’s Heat team, Williams isn’t sure what to expect or if his services will be used in Boston’s third-round matchup. One thing’s for sure; this isn’t the same team the Celtics faced in last year’s best-of-7.
Veteran head coach Erik Spoelstra tweaked the dynamics of his rotation over the past couple of months, which included demoting former starting point guard Kyle Lowry in favor of Gabe Vincent while adding veterans Kevin Love and Cody Zeller in the frontcourt and welcoming minutes for Duncan Robinson in light of losing Tyler Herro to a broken hand in the first round of the playoffs. Then, there’s Jimmy Butler, who averaged an absurd 37.6 points on 59.7% shooting, including a 44.4% clip from deep in the Heat’s first-round series — where they demolished the title-contending Milwaukee Bucks in five games.
Butler is amid the best postseason of his career. And despite missing Game 2 of their second-round series against the New York Knicks, he still mustered enough offensive firepower alongside Bam Adebayo to win the best-of-7 series 4-2.
“They play way different than when we (saw) them. So, I’m going to have to watch the film,” Williams said about the Celtics’ upcoming Eastern Conference final opponent. “I watched them in the playoffs, but even then, they’ve changed their lineups and everything. So, we got to really dive into the personnel, just understand what they want to accomplish, and they play a whole new team than they did at the beginning of the season. Kyle Lowry’s played really well in the playoffs; Duncan Robinson is playing now. Same with (Max) Struss and those guys playing with Caleb Martin, Kevin Love, who we didn’t play the entire season. So, it’s a new team. We got to get used to it.”
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals will be played at TD Garden on Wednesday.
