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Boston’s Grant Williams credits his teammates’ increased intensity, easy buckets for Hawks win

Justin Quinn
·2 min read

The Boston Celtics came out afire against the Atlanta Hawks at TD Garden on Tuesday night before things took a scary turn for the worse, the team falling into a deep deficit after star forward Jaylen Brown collapsed to the ground after stepping on an opponents foot.

The Celtics team we grew all too familiar with from the first half of the 2021-22 NBA season seemed to return with turnovers aplenty, poor shot selection and disjointed defense suggesting Boston was headed for their second blowout loss in as many games. Then, in the second half, the Celtics got their acts together and came back for one of their better wins of the season.

Asked what the team did differently after the game, forward Grant Williams replied, “It’s all about just making our offense a little bit easier by getting out in transition and defending with more aggression with less battling.”

“We did a great job in the first half of really just being physical, but we were fouling too much,” he added.

“So, it was just about adjusting to what the (referees) were calling as well as putting a little bit more pressure on the guys that were the primary ball handlers and making them not as comfortable as they were getting up open 3s at the 3-point line rather than three feet back, which are different shots. So then, we just picked up the intensity at first group did a phenomenal job of coming out with great energy.”

“Aaron (Nesmith) did a great job providing a lift for us as well,” Williams was sure to note.

With solid bench contributions and the ability to adapt when a core player goes down is a huge development for this team, particularly with Ime Udoka having shortened the rotation.

18 games remain on the schedule for Boston to continue building on the momentum they have found in the second half of the season — and how well they mesh may end up being the decisive factor on how far that momentum can take them.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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