Grant Williams leads Boston Celtics past Milwaukee Bucks in convincing Game 7 win in NBA knockout

BOSTON – Grant Williams never scored more than 8 points 3 in a game before this series. He has never earned more than six. He never took the lead Boston Celtics in scoring. All of that changed Sunday in the NBA playoffs.

“Grant won us a playoff tonight,” Jayson Tatum speak. “A game of 7.”

Williams had a career-high 27 points, while Tatum had 23 as the Celtics dominated the second half in a 109-81 win over Milwaukee Bucks at TD Garden on Sunday.

Boston needed to win games 6 and 7 after taking a 14-point lead in the fourth in game 5, giving the Bucks a 3-2 lead. But after taking the lead against Milwaukee in game 6, the Celtics used a 3-pointer to put some distance between them and the Bucks in game 7.

The Celtics hit a new playoff franchise record with 22 3-pointers, and Williams set the NBA record for the most 3-pointers in Game 7 with 7, forcing him to Stephen the curry (twice) and Marcus Morris.

Williams’ previous career high for a 3-point effort in a game was nine points – a number he set in Game 2 of this series. He doubled that mark with 18 3-pointers in Game 7, breaking the NBA’s Game 7 record for efforts, held by Curry.

And it earned him a new nickname in the process, from Jaylen Brown.

“Call him Grant Curry now,” Brown said.

The Bucks’ defense was aimed at protecting the paint and forcing the other teams to throw 3 pointers. In game 7, the strategy was to leave Williams open. Bucks . Center Brook Lopezwho finished the assignment for Williams early, leaving Williams on the wing to take away any momentum Brown and Tatum wanted.

“That’s what they gave us,” Brown said. “So we had to keep making the pass, and he was wide open. We trusted all of our boys, and Grant was a great shooter. And he passed.”

Williams hit his first pointer 3 times to open the game but missed five of his next six attempts. But his team and his coaches kept telling him he needed to shoot it if he had a loophole.

“I told him to let it fly,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “Tonight they have no more respect for you than they have in the past in the series. It was their plan on him and the others, which really changed and made them try to beat us. You’ve seen. that’s the first time he does it.

“Basically, I said shoot the ball. What else can you do? Don’t drive into the crowd. Shoot the shot they’re giving you.”

After delivering a few opening statements in the second quarter, their words began to stick.

“It’s hard to get into your head when your entire team, like 15 people, walks up to you and says keep shooting,” Williams said. “It’s like, they’re encouraging it so it’s like, well being able to take advantage of each one.”

Williams did not enter the NBA as a 3-pointer. In fact, he made just 15 3s in his final season at Tennessee and just 30 in his Volunteer career.

He shot 25% as a rookie from number 3 but improved that number to 37.2% last season. This year, he increased both his volume and percentage hitting 41.1% while shooting 3.4 per game.

But against the Bucks, Williams has struggled since his Game 2 performance, losing only 2-1 in his past four games.

That’s why Milwaukee decided to leave him open in Game 7. Unfortunately for the Bucks, that strategy backfired.

“He’s grown up,” Tatum said. “He’s been playing great. In the knockout stages, you need that. You need guys who come on off the bench to be a star in their role.”

Boston finished the game shooting 22 out of 54 from the 3-point range, while the Bucks struggled furiously, winning only 4 of 32.

According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, that’s the largest 3-point spread in a Game 7 in NBA history and tied for the largest 3-point spread in any playoff game (Golden State has 21 points ahead of Oklahoma City). City 3 in Game 6 of 2016 Western Conference Finals).

For this streak, Boston has taken 110 3-pointers – the third most in the all-time playoff series – for just 57 for Milwaukee. That’s also the largest 3-point difference in a series between the two teams in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Despite the three-pointer, Williams may have shown his most emotional display of the night when playing defensively in the fourth quarter with the actual game in hand.

With Boston up 94-73 mid-late, Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis received the ball in the wide field and the only obstacle between him and the belt was Williams. Portis started a trick, and Williams took it.

Williams turned around and punched the crowd as TD Garden broke out.

“When I got the block, I was super excited and really excited,” Williams said. “Because over the years of your career, you’ll have moments where it goes the other way and you’ll have moments where you get the block.”

Sunday’s win also marked the first time the Celtics overcame a 3-2 deficit to win a series since the 1988 Eastern Conference semi-final against the team. Atlanta Hawks. That year, the Celtics dropped out of the Eastern Conference finals with Detroit Pistonsa fate they are looking to change this year.

This is Boston’s fourth trip to the Eastern Conference finals in the past six seasons. Three times ago – including 2020 in Orlando, Florida, the bubble against Miami Heat – ended in failure.

Brown has been on three teams before, and he knows the hard work isn’t over.

“We still have a long journey ahead of us,” Brown said. “Whatever you have to do to get your mind steady, your body steady, get ready to go. No excuses.”

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals is on Tuesday in Miami. Whether Williams will attempt 18 3s again is undisputed. Before he went on to praise Williams, Tatum had a message for the third year of transition from Tennessee.

“I told him not to get used to it,” Tatum said.

What Boston could get used to, though, is more playoff basketball.