Grant Williams' all-important contract year will now likely be defined by one embarrassing piece of trash talk. The feisty role player guaranteed he would make two potential game-winning free throws Monday, only to miss them both.
"I'mma make both," he told Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell before putting on a brick parade.
It was another rough moment in a season full of nadirs for Williams, who was reportedly once seeking a contract that would pay him $20 million annually. Williams entered the season riding high following his excellent playoff performance, in which he rattled the opposition and put forth a history-making Game 7 performance against the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
But since then, Williams has been mired by mediocre play and poor performances during crunch time. On Sunday night, Williams was late getting to the right spot late in double overtime, prompting the Celtics to waste several seconds before Joe Mazzulla called timeout.
The Knicks, of course, won that game — erasing a 14-point deficit.
There are bigger problems with the Celtics than Williams, beginning with their horrible inability to hold late leads. They coughed up a 28-point lead to the dismantled Nets Friday, and then gave up an 11-point lead with six minutes left.
But Williams' struggles are indicative of the wall Boston is facing. While the Celtics were starting to cruise around this time last season, they're now faltering after securing the best record in the NBA for a large stretch of the first half.
The onus for the Celtics' success falls on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — as well as Derrick White, Marcus Smart and Rob Williams III — but championship teams need players like Williams to provide emotional lift.
It happened last spring. So far, there hasn't been an encore performance.
