Grant Williams made a Dillon Brooks-sized mistake by getting in Jimmy Butlerās face and sparking a Heat victory over the Celtics in Game 2.
Just call 2023 the year of the trash talk backfire.
Youād think NBA players in particular would have taken notice after Dillon Brooks poked the bear and met the claws as the Lakers took down the Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs.
Brooks got meme-ified and unceremoniously dumped by Memphis after that series. And now he has company in the clown show.
In Game 2 between the Heat and Celtics, Bostonās Grant Williams thought it would be a good idea to get in the face of Jimmy Butler, literally. Spoiler alert: It wasnāt.
Butler is already renown for taking his game to the next level in the postseason. Giving him any added juice was a Brooks level of stupid. The Celtics paid for it.
The Heat scored 36 points in the fourth quarter to pull ahead of Boston for a 111-105 victory. They now have a 2-0 lead in the series and they havenāt even taken the floor in Miami yet.
NBA Twitter laid into Williams for his snafu.
NBA Twitter gave Grant Williams the Dillon Brooks treatment
Butler finished the game with 27 points, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks. Nine of his points came in the final six minutes of the game. That matched the output of all the Celtics combined.
Bam Adebayo dropped 22 points with 16 rebounds and nine assists on the night. Caleb Martin came off the bench to score 25 on 11-of-16 shooting.
Now Boston is in trouble. Despite Jayson Tatumās 34 points, they dropped a critical home game and are in an 0-2 hole heading to Miami. A big part of that was Tatumās own fourth quarter output. For the second straight game, he failed to hit a field goal in the fourth quarter. Thatās just not going to get it done.
Game 3 is on Sunday. Weāll see if Williams makes the trip or if the Celtics leave him behind after this one.