Grant Williams Opens Up About Jimmy Butler Trash Talk In East Finals

Grant Williams’ mouth got him into trouble in the past. Ime Udoka even benched him one time for complaining too much to officials.

But Williams, and now his former team in the Boston Celtics, suffered even greater consequences when the loud-mouth forward got into a jawing match with Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler midway through the fourth quarter of Game 2 of this year’s East Conference finals.

Williams, who initiated the encounter by talking smack to Butler after draining a 3-pointer, opened up about the heated exchanged between the two players on the “Run Your Race” podcast.

“That’s a funny thing that happened. We were playing that game, I think we were up by eight. I’m playing well,” said Williams, who scored nine points off the bench in the 111-105 defeat. “And Jimmy says like, ‘Hell nah, he ain’t here.’ So I made a three, I said, ‘Hell no, (expletive), I’m here.'”

“They were punking us the entire time.”

Ex-Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams

Butler mustered quite the response, though. On the ensuing trip down the floor, Butler scored an and-one basket over Williams. Following the bucket, the two got face-to-face before being separated by teammates.

“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, (expletive).’ 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.”

Williams, who moved on from the Celtics this offseason following four seasons with Boston agreeing to a sign-and-trade with the Dallas Mavericks, certainly didn’t have any regrets over his actions, even though some chastised Williams for igniting Butler and his teammates failed to come to his defense.

Williams believes the narrative of him poking the bear was overblown and would have been a non-issue if the Celtics found a way to come out on top in the game.

And when it comes to Butler and Williams, the former Celtics forward said there’s no animosity between the two.

“Jimmy knows it’s all love because we’re just competitors, like naturally,” Williams said. “Afterward, he even said, ‘Respect him because he’s a competitor. I just normally do this to get myself going.’ I was like, I respect it, too, because everybody has their own thing. But ended up losing that series and it sucks because we go to the Finals, who knows what happens.”