Is Grant a goner? (Yes: Traded to DAL for second rounders)

[Yuckabuck33]

“That’s a funny thing that happened. We were playing that game, I think we were up by eight. I’m playing well,” Williams said. “And Jimmy says like, ‘Hell nah, he ain’t here.’ So I made a three, I said, ‘Hell no, mother (expletive), I’m here.’ ... I never talk trash myself, I’m not a trash talker. I’m too nerdy.

“... The next thing you know that happens,” Williams said. “The next play, Jimmy (hesitation), boom boom, stop, pivot, and-one. And he said, ‘I’m here, too, mother (expletive),’” he added. “So, I’m like, ‘I don’t give a (expletive).’ We’re going back and forth. Me, I’m not backing down. We were missing that in that series. They were punking us the entire time.

“So we go back and forth, and it’s crazy, I always look back and I’m like, ‘Yo, I scored our last 10 points.’ Jimmy had eight. But the difference is, Max Strus made a three, Gabe Vincent made a three, so they end up winning that game,” Williams concluded. “If that doesn’t happen, we win the game and no one is bringing that up, the poking-the-bear stuff.”

Williams added that it’s “all love” between the two.

Did anybody actually go back and fact-check this? According to the play-by-play, Grant did score 7 points in a row for the Celtics, but not 10 (he only finished with 9 pts total). And Butler made the and-one on him right after that first three, then hit two humongous jumpers to tie it at 100 and then take the lead 102-100. Shortly after that, Grant was subbed for Brogdon with 2:19 to go. In total, Butler scored 9 points, not 7. So actually, Grant was outscored 9 to 7. I don't know where he got 8-10 from.

I know what he's trying to say, that scoring-wise he held up his side of the bargain and he was one of the only ones doing anything. However, the tone of the game definitely changed when Butler started abusing him. You can't just say because you scored 10 (actually 7) and Butler scored 7 (actually 9) so it didn't actually factor as much in the final outcome. That's totally discounting things like momentum and flow of the game though. It's ignoring the fact that Grant doesn't really score by creating his own shot the way Butler does, and also that he was the primary defender on a lot of those shots.

I know he has to put a good face on things, but he stretched the truth a little. They had chances to win (Brown and Tatum came up short) but to say his battle with Butler wasn't a huge swing factor is a stretch to me.

   This has become such a tiring narrative, that Grant "poked the bear" and made the Celtics lose that game. Can we all stop acting like after Grant did that, Butler turned into Prime Michael Jordan or went Reggie Miller scoring 8 points in 9 seconds on us? After that interaction, Butler just did what he did in every other playoff game. I know Celtics' fans want somebody to blame and it's easy to blame the guys not here anymore (Grant/Smart). But we mostly lost that series because of guys that are still on the team (Jason, Jaylen, Joe, etc.).
   And it's Grant's fault for no one else showing spirit after he did? That's a weird take. Again, Grant did right, and the finger should be pointed at the guys who did not raise their level of play and show some fire. In fact, not only should Jason and Jaylen, etc. have responded to Grant with some energy of their own, those are the guys who should have been the FIRST to show some fire.
   Let's be honest about our max "stars" and not blame things on a role player who showed some heart.

[obnoxiousmime]

“That’s a funny thing that happened. We were playing that game, I think we were up by eight. I’m playing well,” Williams said. “And Jimmy says like, ‘Hell nah, he ain’t here.’ So I made a three, I said, ‘Hell no, mother (expletive), I’m here.’ ... I never talk trash myself, I’m not a trash talker. I’m too nerdy.

“... The next thing you know that happens,” Williams said. “The next play, Jimmy (hesitation), boom boom, stop, pivot, and-one. And he said, ‘I’m here, too, mother (expletive),’” he added. “So, I’m like, ‘I don’t give a (expletive).’ We’re going back and forth. Me, I’m not backing down. We were missing that in that series. They were punking us the entire time.

“So we go back and forth, and it’s crazy, I always look back and I’m like, ‘Yo, I scored our last 10 points.’ Jimmy had eight. But the difference is, Max Strus made a three, Gabe Vincent made a three, so they end up winning that game,” Williams concluded. “If that doesn’t happen, we win the game and no one is bringing that up, the poking-the-bear stuff.”

Williams added that it’s “all love” between the two.

Did anybody actually go back and fact-check this? According to the play-by-play, Grant did score 7 points in a row for the Celtics, but not 10 (he only finished with 9 pts total). And Butler made the and-one on him right after that first three, then hit two humongous jumpers to tie it at 100 and then take the lead 102-100. Shortly after that, Grant was subbed for Brogdon with 2:19 to go. In total, Butler scored 9 points, not 7. So actually, Grant was outscored 9 to 7. I don't know where he got 8-10 from.

I know what he's trying to say, that scoring-wise he held up his side of the bargain and he was one of the only ones doing anything. However, the tone of the game definitely changed when Butler started abusing him. You can't just say because you scored 10 (actually 7) and Butler scored 7 (actually 9) so it didn't actually factor as much in the final outcome. That's totally discounting things like momentum and flow of the game though. It's ignoring the fact that Grant doesn't really score by creating his own shot the way Butler does, and also that he was the primary defender on a lot of those shots.

I know he has to put a good face on things, but he stretched the truth a little. They had chances to win (Brown and Tatum came up short) but to say his battle with Butler wasn't a huge swing factor is a stretch to me.

   This has become such a tiring narrative, that Grant "poked the bear" and made the Celtics lose that game. Can we all stop acting like after Grant did that, Butler turned into Prime Michael Jordan or went Reggie Miller scoring 8 points in 9 seconds on us? After that interaction, Butler just did what he did in every other playoff game. I know Celtics' fans want somebody to blame and it's easy to blame the guys not here anymore (Grant/Smart). But we mostly lost that series because of guys that are still on the team (Jason, Jaylen, Joe, etc.).
   And it's Grant's fault for no one else showing spirit after he did? That's a weird take. Again, Grant did right, and the finger should be pointed at the guys who did not raise their level of play and show some fire. In fact, not only should Jason and Jaylen, etc. have responded to Grant with some energy of their own, those are the guys who should have been the FIRST to show some fire.
   Let's be honest about our max "stars" and not blame things on a role player who showed some heart.

The loss wasn't totally Grant's fault for sure. For the record, I like Grant and wanted to keep him. I do think he can't resist attention-seeking though, and you can't trash talk the best player on the other team if you can't back it up. I was definitely disappointed nobody on the team defended him, but it also made me wonder if maybe there was a reason. I mean, we might as well disband this team entirely if you're telling me everyone on the team but Grant is soft.