Draymond Green explains why he trash-talked Grant Williams, plus more takeaways from Celtics practice
"[When] you start talking junk to me, then yes, I'm going to say something about that. Of course."
Neither Draymond Green nor Grant Williams is ever at a loss for words, so it may have only been a matter of time before the two started barking at each other in the NBA Finals.
After a relatively peaceful Game 1, the talkative pair finally started bickering in Game 2.
“You’re not me,” Green could be heard saying to Williams through a rim microphone as he lined up for a free throw. “You’re not me. You want to be me.”
A reporter (without naming Williams) asked Green about the interaction on Tuesday, wondering whether Green ever feels he goes too far with his trash talk.
“I’m assuming you’re talking Grant Williams?” Green clarified. “Of course you are. I think when you see that, when you see a guy say, man, I grew up watching him, you appreciate it, because that’s why you work. You work to create a path for the next young guy. Like, my goal when I came in here was to create a path for Grant Williams. To hear him say that is an honor, so I don’t take that for granted one bit.”
Before the Finals, Williams talked about his admiration for Green. He told reporters he was cheering for the Warriors in 2015 when they won the title over LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
“I was going for the Warriors then, back in the day because I was a Draymond guy,” Williams said. “That was a fun moment for me because my teammates were all going for Bron … All these guys were betting on the Cavs and when they beat them, I talked so much trash for a week.”
Green said he didn’t appreciate Williams talking trash after his compliments before the series.
“When a guy comes and starts — when you say that and then you start talking junk to me, then yes, I’m going to say something about that,” Green said. “Of course. But I didn’t say anything about that Game 1 because he wasn’t talking to me. I’m not going to go watch his press conference where he gives me props, where he appreciates my game and then go through it in his face. That’s whack to me. I’m not doing that. That’s just not how I roll. …
“Once he starts going at me and it got chippy and he’s yap, yap, yap, all right, bro, you can’t say that and then come and say this. It just doesn’t add up to me.”
For his part, Williams called himself a “responder” more than an instigator.
“At the end of the day, it’s not something that I would naturally come out and do,” he said. “Even though my personality is talkative, I’m not necessarily going to come bash people. To me, it’s kind of exhilarating. It’s kind of fun. As much as someone can go at it, get in another guy’s head, so can you.”
Williams wasn’t the only person who didn’t appreciate Green in Game 2. Former Celtics star Cedric Maxwell told Gary Payton after the game that Green would have gotten “knocked the f— out” if he played that way in the 80’s — a comment Green found funny on Tuesday.
“There were a few guys back then that would lay you out, that would knock you out, that would foul you and get thrown out the game,” Green said. “Bill Laimbeer. Rick Mahorn. But everybody running around acting like they were that. Y’all were getting bullied. So it baffles me when every guy, just because they played in the ’80s, just because they played in the ’90s, is like, man, if you played in our day, you’d get knocked out. No, not really, because it wouldn’t be you.
“Okay, so you’re saying Rick Mahorn would have knocked me out? Rick Mahorn probably knocks you out. Bill Laimbeer probably lays you out. So were there enforcers of that time? Of course. Would they have knocked you out? Of course. Their fine was also $2. It’s just not the same day and age. If I go knock somebody out, I probably get fined a million dollars. It just don’t work the same.”
More takeaways
2. Robert Williams is questionable with knee soreness. Ime Udoka told reporters Williams was fine after Marcus Smart accidentally rolled onto his leg during Sunday’s game.
“He was more scared than anything, honestly,” Udoka said. “Said he took the hit in that knee, more so stayed down to make sure he was okay. Once he got up and started running, he was fine. No difference.”
Williams — who has been nowhere near 100 percent — was asked how he has changed his game to compensate for his knee soreness throughout the postseason
“Just adding a little more technique, a little more thinking to the game,” Williams said. “Obviously, like you said with the injury that I have, not being as explosive as I normally am. A little more physicality, using my body a little bit more.”
3. The Celtics were an abysmal 9-for-34 inside the arc in the first three quarters of Sunday’s game. Udoka noted that the Warriors are a little undersized, but they pack the paint and defend well with rotations — a different challenge than the Bucks or Heat — and he praised Green for keeping the Celtics off-balance.
“You make the right amount of threes, you kind of get them out of that,” Udoka said. “But it’s a mix of that. With the lack of rim protection, we got guys that should be finishing a little bit better than we have. We also had several turnovers on our dump-off passes there. They were clogging the paint and missed some kick-outs. It’s a balance of both.”
4. Jayson Tatum was asked about being a father and a role model as a star NBA player, and he gave a long, thoughtful answer.
“My mindset was not to sacrifice either, that I was going to be the best father as I could as well as the best basketball player,” Tatum said, recollecting when Deuce was born in 2017. “There was no guideline or there was no, you know, exact way to do it. It was all about what was natural. I think that’s what it is. I just do what’s natural. I’m around him every day. I think being able to go through this journey together, because I was 19 when I got drafted, it’s kind of like we’re growing up together. As he’s gotten older, I’m going through my career, sharing these moments, experiencing this together as we grow up.
“I think it’s the coolest part for me. I don’t know if it’s intentional as much as it’s just natural and what we do. I realize that I do have a platform and things like that. If I am a role model for young fathers around the world, that’s great. I think we need more role models like that. Just to have more male fathers be present and things like that, show that you can do both, regardless of whenever you work, whatever your profession is.”
5. The Celtics have been outspoken in their push for stronger gun control laws in the wake of the recent mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo. On Tuesday, Brown was asked if the Celtics would ever consider a walk-out similar to the one that came together in the Disney World Bubble after George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
“You keep an open mind,” Brown said. “You never know. Definitely things need to be addressed.
“Sometimes people argue and say stopping a basketball game or something, what effect is that actually going to have on society. I would say in response it raises awareness. That’s important. It gets people’s attention. It’s a topic that’s being talked about now. Certainly people have pressure on them. Changes need to start to get made. So I definitely think it’s an effective strategy that could work.”
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