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Jaylen Brown takes down Grant Williams for a hard foul on Jayson Tatum

Posted on by Larry
Jaylen Brown takes down Grant Williams for a hard foul on Jayson Tatum

Boston Celtics star jaylen brown finished with 25 points in friday’s 124-109 win over the Charlotte Hornetsbut the night was ruined when former Celtics teammate Grant Williams committed a “Ray Lewis”-like foul on Jayson Tatum with minutes remaining.

Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown called out former teammate Grant Williams for almost tackling Jayson Tatum

Brown argued with ex-teammate Grant Williams, who plowed into Tatum from the sideline as Tatum dribbled into the half-court late in the fourth quarter. It looked more like an attempted NFL tackle than a regular foul in the N.B.A. Williams looked ready for an automatic ejection at this point in the game.

Tatum was knocked to the ground. Brown then came in and looked at Williams and the Hornets bench. Tatum appeared upset as he stood up, but simply walked to the foul line while the officials reviewed the play.

Williams was sent off for a Flagrant Foul 2 and could face a league suspension. When asked if he thought Williams’ mistake was unintentional, Brown wasted no time in defending his teammate to reporters.

“Like, what are we talking about? Are you all seeing the same play I saw?’ Brown told reporters at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. “He hit him like it was a football match. Like Ray Lewis coming through the middle or something. It is what it is. Grant (knew) better than that.”

Brown said there is no place in the NBA for such a violation and questioned why Williams would want to try to hurt a former teammate. Williams played with Tatum in Boston from 2019 to 2023.

“I thought JT and Grant were friends. … I don’t think so,” Brown said.

Williams said his foul on Tatum was not intentional

Williams acknowledged it was a hard foul, but said it was not an intentional foul.

‘I’m not trying to hurt anyone. We all know this is one of my best friends in the league,” Williams told NBC Sports Boston. “JB has escalated it a bit, but I understand he’s trying to protect his teammate. But that’s (Tatum) my dog. No matter what happened, I got his back. … No malice or any problem with that.”

Tatum finished his night with a game-high 32 points on 9-for-19 (47.4%) shooting from the field, 3-for-9 (33.3%) from 3-point range and 11-from -13 (84.6%) at the free throw line. The five-time All-Star declined to speak to the media afterward.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla applauded Tatum for walking away and avoiding a physical confrontation with Williams.

“I’m glad (Tatum) is doing well,” he said. “What I liked most is that he immediately jumped up and didn’t lie down. It didn’t bother him. He got up right away, went to the free throw and did his job.”

However, the drama did not end after Williams’ foul on Tatum. Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball fouled Tatum on a three-point attempt and was ruled flagrant for an unsportsmanlike foul.

In the final seconds, Hornets forward Miles Bridges was also ejected.

“Teams like to send messages and try to set the tone and do all kinds of different things to try to take us out of character or mess with our minds or make us feel like we’ve found a solution or whatever,” added Jaylen Brown. . “We’re not going for that. And we’re not. That’s it. We just won’t go.”

The rematch on Saturday evening in Boston is highly anticipated.