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Grant Williams claims the Celtics were ‘the better team’ in the NBA Finals
Joe Lyons is a sports writer and basketball expert for Basketball Insiders. Joe has a keen eye for the betting markets within the NBA and a great passion for the game of basketball. also been published by Nottingham Forest FC, working with the academy and senior teams to produce content on matchdays. He formerly covered the Premier League and EFL as an on-site reporter during the 2020/21 season for Prost International. He is an expert in a range of other sports including soccer, horse racing darts and American football. Joe specialises in long form SEO content alongside news, tips and betting.
All posts by Joe LyonsUpdated22 Jul 2022
Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams has said he believes the Golden State Warriors were not the better team throughout the NBA finals, as the Warriors defeated the Celtics in six games.
It has been over a month since Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors lit up the TD Garden in game six and lifted their fourth NBA championship in eight seasons, but Grant Williams believes his side were the better team and should’ve taken the crown.
“I still will say confidently… they weren’t the better team.”@Grant2Will on the Celtics lack of discipline in The Finals and how the Warriors took advantage. pic.twitter.com/5fWvXM5xz8
— The Long Shot (@TheLongShotPod) July 20, 2022
Appearing on the Long Shot Podcast alongside Miami Heat guard Duncan Robinson who is a Maine native, Williams believes he can ‘confidently say’ that the Warriors were not the better team in the finals – but they were ‘more disciplined’ due to their previous experience and history in winning championships.
The 23-year-old from the University of Tennessee enjoyed a breakout season with the Celtics as he embraced a vital sixth man role and became one of the league’s most consistent spot-up shooters, resembling the likes of veteran PJ Tucker and Draymond Green with his elite defense.
The Celtics took a 2-1 lead in the series but went on to lose the next three consecutive games, as Ime Udoka’s team appeared to have ran out of gas by game six and had nothing left in the tank to offer against a mature, controlled Warriors team who looked exactly like they had been in that situation many times before.
In the 2022 NBA playoffs, Williams averaged 8.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game off the bench, averaging 27.3 minutes played and shooting 39.3% from behind the arc.
Many Celtics players have noted the loss against the New York Knicks as the moment their season turned around, as they fell to a record of 18-21 before surging to the top of the Eastern Conference standings at one point and finishing with a record of 51-31.
The 17-time world champions enjoyed one of the greatest in-season turnarounds the NBA will ever see, but couldn’t quite make it over the final hurdle and lift the Larry O’Brien trophy.
The future is bright for the young Celtics core featuring the likes of All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, alongside All-Defensive Second Team member Robert Williams as well as veterans Malcolm Brogdon, Marcus Smart, Derrick White, and the ageless Al Horford.
