Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams was tossed from Friday’s loss to the Boston Celtics after barreling over his former teammate Jayson Tatum with just over two minutes to play.
With Boston up 114-105 and Tatum attacking in transition, Williams barged into the Celtics star with his shoulder, appearing not to make a play on the ball. Tatum immediately stood up after the impact and walked over to the free-throw line, while Williams was assessed a flagrant 2 and ejected.
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Williams, who played alongside Tatum in Boston for the first four-and-a-half seasons of his career, said postgame that he had no ill intentions on the play.
“J.T. is one of my closest friends,” Williams told Rob Boone of The Charlotte Observer. “There was no intention of trying to harm him in any way.”
Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, another former Boston teammate of Williams, criticized the play and deemed it intentional by the Hornets forward.
“I don’t know what that was about,” Brown said, per Celtics.com’s Marc D’Amico. “I think that spoke for itself.
“I don’t know if Grant missed J.T., or I don’t know what that was, but that wasn’t a basketball play. Grant knows better than that.”
Following the play, Hornets guard LaMelo Ball fouled out for taking away Tatum’s landing space on a 3-point attempt, a call the referees upgraded to a flagrant 1 after video review. Charlotte then lost forward Miles Bridges with 33.2 seconds left after he was given a technical foul and ejected for swatting the ball toward the bench during a stoppage in play.
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Boston went on a 10-4 run following Williams’ flagrant 2, with eight Celtics points in that span coming from the free-throw line. The Celtics won the game 124-109.
