On May 5, the Boston Celtics took control of their Eastern Conference Semi-Finals series against the Philadelphia 76ers, courtesy of a 114-102 victory.
However, the contest wasn’t without its share of controversy, most notably, an accidental stomp from Joel Embiid to the head of Grant Williams, smashing his face into the hardwood as a result.
When speaking to the media following the game, Jaylen Brown addressed the incident, noting how it was the craziest thing he has seen on a basketball court.
“When I saw Grant get his head stepped on by a 300-pound individual, to see that live was crazy,” Brown said. “Seeing that in real-time, it was probably the craziest thing I’ve seen on a basketball court.”
Fortunately, Williams wasn’t injured by the incident and was able to continue playing throughout the contest, although his impact won’t be seen in the box score, as he went o-of-3 from deep, but did grab 4 rebounds, block 2 shots, and register an assist in 23 minutes of playing time.
Grant Williams Speaks Out on Stomp
Following the Celtics’ victory, Grant Williams spoke with The Athletic regarding the accidental stomp from Embiid during the game and appeared to find the funny side of things.
Exclusive with Grant Williams to talk about The Stomp.
“I just saw blood trickling down and I was like, ‘Welp, I gotta come out.’”
Read on @TheAthleticNBA
“I was like, dang, I really got curb stomped! I got curb stomped a little bit, but it wasn’t intentional. It’s the playoffs, so you expect battles like this. You expect to bleed; you expect to be elbowed. It’s nothing new. So for me, it was just like, get me back into the game as soon as possible,” Williams told Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
Williams has only recently cracked the Celtics playoff rotation after being a bit-part player during their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, so Celtics fans will be breathing a sigh of relief that the versatile forward managed to avoid serious injury during the incident.
Jayson Tatum Shares Thoughts on Embiid’s Stomp
During his own post-game press conference, Jayson Tatum revealed that he didn’t see the Embiid incident in real time and that it wasn’t until after the game that he saw the footage. Yet, rather than focus on the accidental stomp, Tatum chose to praise Williams’ performance and importance to the team.
“I didn’t see what actually happened until after the game; that was kinda nasty,” Tatum said. “Obviously, it was incidental. But, you know, I said it earlier, Grant does a lot of things that don’t always show up in the stat sheet, but his value is extremely important, and I think it showed tonight.”
Tatum bounced back from a poor showing in game two, providing his team with a double-double performance in points and rebounds while amassing a stat line of 27 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block while shooting 50% from the field but just 27.3% from three-point range.
The Celtics and Sixers will face off in game four of their series on Sunday, May 7, in what will be the second game in front of Philadelphia’s hometown crowd in the Wells Fargo arena.
A win for Boston would put the Celtics in complete control of the series and leave them needing just one additional victory to progress back to the Easter Conference Finals.
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Celtics’ Jaylen Brown Sounds Off on Joel Embiid’s Stomp on Grant Williams