NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 15, 2022

Grant Williams

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. How much are you looking forward to the challenge of do a do-or-die game 6?

GRANT WILLIAMS: We've been in this position before. It's one of those things where you embrace it. It's exciting. It's what you live for really. Playing in front of your home fans. Did it against Milwaukee. We didn't do our job against Miami, so we made it harder then and made it harder now. We are going to come out here and do what we have to do.

Q. Knowing you've been in this position before, how much confidence does it give you for tomorrow?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Gives us utmost confidence. Believing in everybody in the locker room. Believing in everyone in this arena. We know the type of resiliency we have, how we can perform, and when we're at our best, and that's where you want to be, when you're at your best.

Q. Is there any different you saw after watching film of Game 5?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Same old, same old. Take care of the ball, you win the game. Don't take care of the ball, you lose the game.

Nineteen turnovers is too much. Especially when you defend the way we have. Doing a good job defending and holding them to 105, 104 over the series.

It's a matter for us to make sure we do our job on the offensive end of the court and make sure they don't get too many easy opportunities, as well as the breakdowns we have defensively. We've done a solid job and make sure we stay solid and don't have lapses in judgment.

Q. After a game like that, how much do you want to get back out there as a group on the bench? You guys had a tough Game 5.

GRANT WILLIAMS: For us it's a matter of doing our jobs. If you want to come out and play with an intensity and urgency, that's exactly what we need to do for tomorrow.

Q. Are you feeling any extra pressure for tomorrow? Do you feel pressure?

GRANT WILLIAMS: You can't put pressure on yourself, honestly. If you do, that's when you start thinking about the outside noise versus you just focus in on basketball, and you have as much confidence as anybody.

Can't put any extra pressure. Can't worry about what people might say or what people might do if you lose or if you win. All you can worry about is the 48 minutes down the line.

Q. This whole season has been about overcoming challenges, a lot of times those challenges are self-inflicted. Why do you think you guys get yourself in these spots, and what about the makeup of the team has allowed you to get out of it?

GRANT WILLIAMS: We like the challenge, I guess. I don't know what other answer I can give you, because we always talk not making it happen, but we somehow do. For us it's a matter of bouncing back and showing that resiliency we have and perseverance we've had throughout the season. We're a team that no one thought was good, and everyone ruled out, thought we should break up. At the end of the day all that's been said already. What more can be said other than come out there and do your job, win the game, and go out there and compete against a talented Golden State team.

Q. How can you combat some of the things they’re doing defensively and how effective they can be at going small?

GRANT WILLIAMS: I feel like making the right read gets you open looks. When you don't, it doesn't. You can try and force something or you try and -- that's when defense beats you. Their defense is help-oriented. They want you to have to make the right read. If you don't, then that’s when they get off to the races. When they get off to the races, they're a tough team to defend and are a tough team to control.

For us it's a matter of understanding the decision-making and making sure that we know exactly what we're looking for on both sides of the court.

Q. You keep hearing "spacing" from you guys. What's been the difficulty in spacing so far? What are you trying to do to get more spacing?

GRANT WILLIAMS: Some of it's just unawareness. You see it in the court where we're standing all in the same area rather than taking four steps and getting out to the corner.

It changes the whole game because then the close-out scenarios are different. Then they can't necessarily help the same way they want to.

When you give them an opportunity where they can just load up and load the baseline or make it boxes and elbows, it's tough to score on them.

Shifting their defense, similar to that as if you were to shift in baseball or football or other scenarios. It's just a matter of making sure we understand exactly how we need to space the court and take advantage of all the 94 feet.