In the case of losing the first game at home, the Boston Celtics were ashamed, and in the second game, they beat the Bucks by 11 points in the first quarter, laying a solid advantage, and the second quarter Celtics played a 33-19 attack wave, so the game basically lost the suspense of winning and losing at the end of the half. Although the Bucks narrowed the gap a bit in the second half, the Celtics were still bloodless, beating the Bucks 109-86 to equalize the overall score of the series.
In this game, the Celtics double probe Tatum and Jaylen Brown certainly performed well, the former recovered in form, scoring 29 points with a 50% shooting rate, in addition to 3 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals. Jaylen Brown continued to play steadily, scoring a team-high 30 points and contributing 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Of course, the Celtics are all soldiers, a total of 5 people scored double digits, of which the substitute Grant Williams became the biggest surpriser, he shot 7 of 14, including 6 three-pointers, Grant Williams cut 21 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in the whole game, of which his +22 plus-minus was tied with Derrick White, which was the highest in the team. The score is second only to the double probe flower, ranking third in the Celtics.
Grant Williams entered the league in 2019, when he was selected by the Celtics with the 22nd pick in the first round, and in terms of style and mental attributes, the Celtics may be the best place for Grant Williams, because he was the league's top defensive sapper in college, and whenever Grant Williams walked on the court, he would fight with all his strength. The Celtics' team culture happens to be hard-blooded, tough, tenacious defensive and never give up, which shows that young people like Grant Williams are the kind of players that the Green Army management and coaching staff like very much.
Of course, due to the low draft picks, coupled with the Celtics's strong hand in the same position at that time, Grant Williams hardly got any chances, and he averaged only 3.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in the rookie season. However, the following year Grant Williams entered the rotation lineup, although his data still looks very average, averaging only 4.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, but in addition to doing a good job of defense, Grant Williams' three-point shooting rate has also increased to 37%, an increase of 12 percentage points compared with the previous year.
With the Celtics' less deep forward line this season than before, there were not many personnel options other than Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Grant Williams was entrusted with a heavy responsibility, and he also successfully seized the opportunity. In the regular season, Grant Williams played about twice as long as the previous two, he averaged 7.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1 assist and 0.7 blocks per game, shooting nearly 50% from the field and 41% from three-point range, and it should be said that the ability to seize opportunities is still very strong.
By the playoffs, Grant Williams was even better. Although the first two seasons of his career did not play much time and drama, Grant Williams's performance in the playoffs was significantly better than that of the regular season. Grant Williams was a Celtic fringe player in the 19-20 season, but he shot nearly 60 percent from the field and three-point shooting, but the sample size was relatively small at that time and did not attract enough attention. And last season Grant Williams was already the main substitute for the front position, and his shooting and three-point shooting rate during the playoffs were all over 50%, which is more convincing this time.
It turns out that Grant Williams may be a big-game player by nature, because from the first round against the Brooklyn Nets to the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Milwaukee Bucks, Grant Williams has performed well, averaging more than 30 minutes per game, with 12.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.2 blocks, and shooting more than 50% from the field and a staggering 55% three-point shooting rate. To know that Grant Williams is only a 23-year-old youngster, his annual salary is only 2.49 million US dollars, considering that grant Williams still has great potential and upside in theory, the Celtics really make a lot of money.
Although Grant Williams's ceiling should not be particularly high, this kind of role player who does not have the ball is obviously needed by every championship team. In terms of function and function, Grant Williams is a bit like a weakened version of Draymond Green, except for being the core of the team, basically doing a lot of work on the field. Of course, Grant Williams is not like Draymond Green, who always makes hurtful moves and often attacks opponents with words, and the youngster still plays relatively clean. Looking forward to a good performance of Grant Williams in the future, if he can maintain this momentum, perhaps in the offseason Celtics will consider an early extension with Grant Williams.