Grant Williams ‘poked the bear’ and brought out a version of Jimmy Butler the Celtics weren’t ready for
"At the end of the day, it's out of respect," Williams said. "I'm not going to run away from it."
Brimming with confidence, Jimmy Butler asked himself a couple of rhetorical questions as he walked off the TD Garden floor following Miami’s 111-105 win over the Celtics on Friday night.
“They thought he was the answer?” Butler said. “Come on. That was the answer to your Jimmy Butler problem? … That can’t be the answer.”
Butler was talking about Grant Williams. The Celtics didn’t play Williams at all in Game 1. He logged 26 minutes in Game 2, scoring nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and spending a considerable amount of time guarding Butler.
The Celtics were up by nine with 6:22 remaining in the game when Butler hit a turnaround jumper over Williams. Williams approached Butler aggressively, putting his face right up against Butler’s as the two exchanged words.
Butler said the confrontation fueled his clutch performance down the stretch as the Heat wrestled the lead away from Boston and closed out the game.
“Yes it did. But that’s just competition. He hit a big shot and started talking to me. I like that,” Butler said. “I’m all for that. It makes me key-in a lot more and I think it pushes that will to win a lot more. It makes me smile, it does … I do respect him, though. He’s a big part of what they’re trying to do. He switches and he can shoot the ball. I just don’t know if I’m the best person to talk to.”
After the game, Williams told reporters that he doesn’t plan on backing down after Butler scored a team-high 27 points with eight rebounds and six assists and buried the Celtics down the stretch.
“For me, it’s a matter of understanding that ‘sure, you did poke the bear’ quote, unquote,” Williams said. “How are you going to respond? For me, he made some tough shots in a battle. I’m going to keep battling. He’s going to have to make every single tough shot for the rest of the series. And I’m not going to turn and look otherwise because I respect him as a mother(expletive) player.”
Jaylen Brown declined to comment on the situation when asked about it.
Williams said he was responding to something Butler said to him. He said a lesson from his parents motivated his response.
“For me, I’m a competitor. I’m in a battle,” Williams said. “He got the best of me tonight. At the end of the day, it’s out of respect. I’m not going to run away from it. My mom always taught me, and my dad as well that if you get your (expletive) kicked you don’t come back home until you battle again.”
The Celtics didn’t have an answer for Butler or Bam Adebayo, who posted a 22-point 17-rebound double-double.
Butler sang as he entered the room for his postgame press conference. Morgan Wallen’s 2021 single “Somebody’s Problem” blared from the speakers of his smartphone.
Butler certainly has been somebody’s problem in this series. That somebody is the Celtics.
“Look, I love that gnarly version of Jimmy, but you get that regardless,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I just think people now are paying a lot more attention to him now that we’ve won some games in the postseason the last few years.”
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