Brown Set the Tone and Grant Added his $.02

BOSTON — Grant Williams had high hopes of signing a big extension with the Celtics this offseason that never came to fruition. He turned down a $50 million offer from Boston per sources and likely felt some regret about that choice over the past few weeks based on how his 2022-23 season had gone.

Williams was yanked in and out of the rotation throughout an inconsistent second half of the season and played just 39 total minutes in three games in the opening-round series win over the Hawks.

The 76ers and Bucks were always considered the teams that he would be most important for Williams when it comes to proving his value to this Celtics squad. Milwaukee was shocked in Round 1 by the Heat though and Williams only played four minutes in Game 1, including none in the second half.

With Boston’s defense floundering without Williams off the bench and Joel Embiid back in the picture for Game 2, Williams got an early call by Joe Mazzulla over Sam Hauser. The fourth-year forward did not disappoint, posting 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in his 29 minutes, nearly matching his entire playing time for the Hawks series. He finished as a plus-22 as well, the highest mark for a Boston reserve and was the team’s most productive big of the night.

Perhaps most importantly for Mazzulla, Williams was aggressive from the perimeter, taking all eight of his shots from 3-point range, going 4-of-8 from distance on a night that Boston doubled their 3-point output.

“Grant plays a role on our team,” Joe Mazzulla said. “When he plays, when he shoots the ball at a high clip and doesn’t pass it up, we need him to shoot it, and he did a great job of that tonight. He has the ability to guard different guys and execute different matchups with different coverages for us, and at his best just brings a level of physicality and a level of poise to our team. I thought he did a great job of that tonight.”

While Williams did a nice job of distributing well when the open shots weren’t there, his impact was felt even more from a defensive standpoint. He made key hustle plays and helped the Celtics up they [their] physicality one game after posting their worst defensive performance of the postseason. That earned him plenty of accolades from his teammates.


After playing a crucial role in the Celtics’ deep postseason runs in two of his first three seasons, seeing more of Williams on the floor helped to get Boston back to their top defensive form for at least one night. While the Celtics still have a lot more work to do to get out of this series, Williams looks again like he will be an integral part of the equation as a physical defender who can switch onto any Sixer who is on the floor.

Williams may not be able to earn back the big extension payday he was hoping for but he’s got a chance to do it now that he’s earned more minutes in this series with Boston’s defense back to its usual self.