Getty Grant Williams, Boston Celtics
In what was a tightly contested game, the Boston Celtics fell to defeat against the Philadelphia 76ers on April 4.
When speaking to The Athletic’s Jay King after the game, Grant Williams revealed his frustration at what he perceived to be a double standard of refereeing from the game officials.
Grant Williams was not happy at all tonight with what he considered a double standard from the referees. More from him here in my story at The Athletic: t.co/DgO9HFoss8
“So that moment where I got hit in the face twice, I said, ‘Call the f—–g foul,’” Williams told King. “And next thing you know, I got a technical. So I got a technical for that. And the following possession P.J. says, ‘Call the f—–g pushoff.’ No technical foul. Later in the game, after Joel throws me across the face on the out-of-bounds play, no review of a flagrant, no review of nothing. Then he proceeds to say, ‘How the f— do you call a foul on me in that position? That’s not a f—–g foul.’ And no technical foul. So it was like, OK, did I do something different from the other guys that led to me getting a technical foul? Or is it one of those things where I just need to shut up and dribble?”
In 28 minutes of play, Williams scored 10 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and made 3 assists while shooting 57.1% from the field and 50% from deep.
Doc Rivers Discusses Celtics Flopping
When speaking to the media after the Sixers’ win, head coach Doc Rivers discussed how his team had to navigate the Celtics’ willingness to ‘flop’ on contact down the stretch of the game.
“Knowing that the Celtics flop, you know that they were going to do that at the end; we said that in the timeout,” Rivers said. “Not paying attention when the guys on the free throw line, which is clearly, I mean, we had the whole gambit. So in some ways, it was a good way to win because it gave us material in a crazy way, to hit home about all the little points.”
With their win, the Sixers moved within 2 games of the Celtics, who currently occupy the second seed in the Eastern Conference; however, with just three games remaining, the Celtics need just one win to secure their seeding position.
Joe Mazzulla Discusses Celtics Offensive Struggles
The scoreline might have been close at the final whistle, but the truth is, Boston struggled to make their mark on the offensive end in a game where they were missing All-Star wing, Jaylen Brown.
When speaking to the media, head coach Joe Mazzulla credited Joel Embiid‘s excellent performance but did state that Boston’s struggles on offense were part of the reason they were unable to secure the season sweep against their rivals.
What more could have been done to stop Embiid?
Joe Mazzulla weighs in on Joel Embiid’s 52-PT night
“If [PJ] Tucker doesn’t make those three threes, it’s a completely different game. Or if we let Embiid keep going, maybe he misses a couple. You don’t know,” Mazzulla said. “But I thought our guys competed. I thought they were very detailed in keeping him off the free-throw line. I thought he just had a great night, and we weren’t tremendous on the offensive end like we normally are.”
The Celtics won’t have much time to rest, as they will now face the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, March 5, in what will be the second night of a back-to-back and one of their final three games of the regular season.