NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 1, 2022

Grant Williams

Boston Celtics

Media Day

Q. Klay Thompson was talking a little while ago about being in school, being at Staples Center when the Celtics and the Lakers were going against Kobe and such. Do you have any memories of this particular Golden State team? They started getting good in 2014, 2015. Do you remember them from that time?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Absolutely. I remember exactly where I was when LeBron blocked that shot. I remember exactly where I was when the Warriors won it for the first time. I was in college and I remember watching the game. I was going for the Warriors then, back in the day, because I'm a Draymond guy.

That was a fun moment for me because my teammates were all going for LeBron, like Admiral Schofield who plays with the Magic, all these guys were betting on the Cavs. When they beat them, I talked so much trash for a week.

It's kind of funny to come into this arena, in the Chase Center, and play against a team that's still together with the success they've had.

You acknowledge that, but at the same time I'm not a fan anymore. It's one of those things where you're just excited to compete against those guys and hopefully create those memories for some college kids that are coming up, and high school kids, where they can say that they remember the moment where you guys trumped the super team dynasty of the Warriors.

Q. When you look back at December, from the outside it looked really bad. Did it feel bad on the inside the way you guys were playing? What in your mind was the reason you pulled yourself out of it?

GRANT WILLIAMS: For us honestly, we never I feel like worried or got discombobulated about it at all. At the end of the day, we knew some of those wins, most of them we had big leads in. We had success with one another, we just didn't have consistency.

Our biggest thing was challenging each other, one another, to stay together, stay the course, and understand there's a lot more to be played for.

The beginning of the season, like, you have this record now, but it's not what this record is going to be at the end. I feel like it brought us a little bit more together.

When everybody was talking about breaking the Js up, can this team stay together, does Brad do this, does Ime do that. For us, it was just a matter of sticking with one another, understanding that we're the team that dictates our own future.

Q. Ime's defense is a lot different than Brad's. Did that have anything to do with the early-season struggles?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was a little different because we do a lot more switch-heavy concepts here versus Brad had a little bit of that. It was kind of our secondary versus our primary. Yeah, it was definitely something we had to get used to.

As the time went on, it proved to be effective and proved that we had success. We've understood our base coverages, all the things that we can change and adapt to, and it allows us to not only have success, because we were a great defensive team with Brad, but I thought it would lead to even more with Ime, too.

Q. The way that Steph and Jordan Poole, Klay, they run off the ball, is that a different beast in a seven-game series, all that off-ball constant 24-second attention you've got to pay to them?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Yeah, they're unlike any other team. We've been through a team of great isolation players, we've been through a team that has a dominant man that can play any position and guard any position. Then we played a team that is the most physical and grueling.

This team I feel like has that physical nature, but they're a lot more able to make shots, a lot more movement, a lot more chasing. I feel like our team is built for that. We're built for not only that but also the physical nature.

Chasing those guys like Steph, Klay, Jordan, we know exactly how much they move off the ball. They're just as much a threat on the ball as off. You have to take priority and understand what you want to take away from them but also what you want to accomplish as a defense.

Q. Ime entered this league on a 10-day contract. He had to work for his place in this league, then grinded his way up as an assistant. How does that show up in the way that he coaches you guys, knowing the kind of role player he was?

GRANT WILLIAMS: The intensity that he brings, the tenacity, kind of the edge I would say he brings to not only just the games that we play but anything he does.

When you think of Ime, you think of the ultimate competitor in the sense of he's going to challenge you if you're soft, he's going to try to bait you into stuff, he's going to continue to bring that edge and be mad at you if you're not bringing it yourself.

At all times I feel like he's ready to compete and ready to go at it with somebody. I feel like that's what allows not only us to have that same matchup intensity, that same energy and feeling, because he's done a phenomenal job from the day he stepped into this league as a player.

Imagine going now, going to Pop, going through the lineage of Steve Nash, all those guys, so he's one of those guys that you're thankful really to be around because he brought that edge.

Q. Was that jarring, that change? Brad is intense, but was that a big adjustment for you guys?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Not for me I feel like. I love that. Like I had Coach [Rick] Barnes back in college. He was that all the time.

I feel like Brad, he does a phenomenal job, especially X's and O's and personality. He's very much so a less confrontational guy compared to Ime. Maybe for some other guys it might have caught them off guard, but it was kind of a refresher for me, because I'm like, it takes me back to my college days where Coach Barnes would challenge me, throw me off to the side of the court to run even though I didn't do anything wrong.

It was definitely exciting to have him around.

Q. You talked about seeing Golden State back when they beat Cleveland, how you were feeling about that. It seems to be parallel to what you guys have been able to do this season and how your organization has gone in comparison to what they did. When you watched them play back then, you're playing with the Celtics now, do you see similarities between the two teams?

GRANT WILLIAMS: I look back to that team when they first won it. I think it was 2014 or '15 or something like that. Draymond was in his third year. Steph was I think in his fifth. It's kind of weird where it's like, Dang, JT is I think in his fifth year, I'm in my third. It's kind of like you have that guy that has been leading them, Al, everything like that.

It's definitely where you're kind of like, this is kind of weird. At the same time it's not weird if you don't accomplish it, if you don't have success, if you don't establish that for yourselves, create your own legacy.

For us this is about enjoying this moment but also not looking too far ahead. You still have to go through a team that’s not only had this experience over the past eight years, but also play against a team that has been together, and you want to come together even more as a team.

Q. For them, that was kind of the genesis of this run that they're on. How much hope does that give you going into this Finals that you also can kind of get that thing started?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Yeah, Brad did a phenomenal job, and Danny [Ainge], thinking back to Danny, constructing this team. Guys not only in the same age range but also have a lot of impact in the ways they play, can adapt to one another, are great people.

I feel like that's kind of what Bob [Myers] and those guys did with Golden State in the past. It's what we kind of built for the future. It's something we're all on that same track where we can stay together for years to come and have success, and as long as we do our jobs and trust one another and commit to one another, I feel like we will.

Q. You have been the best defensive team this year in the NBA. Considering how many weapons Golden State has right now, and without trying to get into strategy with you, do you think it would be detrimental to your team if you guys try to focus on one player?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Yeah, I feel like with them, when a team does that, it opens up so much more. When you focus on one person with the Warriors, it allows guys like Draymond and those guys that can play in the seams to get easy lobs, easy threes. If you're so consumed and worried about one, you're not worrying about the others.

The benefit of this team, how versatile they are offensively, it helps us because I feel if you're able to switch, if you're able to do your things, do your job to keep them in front of you, you're forcing them into more isolation basketball, which is something I don't feel like they want to do much and over the years they haven't wanted to do.

For us it's a matter of making sure we do our jobs as a collective, as a group, and not being too focused on if a guy makes a deep 28-foot, 30-foot three and gets hots because sometimes you can't control those things. If they make those, they beat you, you have to nod your head, tip your cap. At the end of the day, you just don't want anything easy.

Thank you.