Grant Williams: 'No malicious intent' behind hard foul on former Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Boston Celtics stayed cool while Charlotte Hornets lost theirs.

Grant Williams and Miles Bridges were ejected in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter and LaMelo Ball was called for a flagrant-1 foul, allowing the defending champion Celtics to pull away late and win 124-109 on Friday night.

Williams was ejected after it was deemed he aggressively ran over former teammate Jayson Tatum when they collided near half court. Tatum appeared upset as he got to his feet, but simply walked toward the foul line as officials reviewed the play.

Williams’ foul drew boos from a large contingent of Celtics fans and could result in a suspension from the league.

“At review, we saw that he accelerated his speed prior to the contact, and so he makes significant contact with the dribbler,” referee James Williams told a pool reporter. “The acceleration is considered wind-up, the impact was significant, potential for injury, so this was determined to be unnecessary and excessive, which gets us to a flagrant foul penalty 2. Again, by rule, that is an automatic ejection from the game.”

Boston's Jaylen Brown appeared upset about the foul, yelling something toward Williams and the Hornets' bench.

Williams said there was “no malicious intent” and he was simply trying to make a play on the ball in transition when he collided with Tatum. He said he went to reach to knock the ball away as Tatum was passing, which he said made the play look worse than it was.

“J.T. is one of the my closest friends in the league,” said Williams, who played with Tatum from 2019-23. “There was no intentionally trying to harm him in any way. ... I don’t think anybody believed it was malicious intent by any means because you don’t see any of those (Celtics) guys running up to me.”

Tatum, who scored a game-high 32 points, declined to speak to the media afterward.

Less than a minute after Williams was ejected, Ball was assessed a flagrant foul for kicking his leg out as Tatum was shooting a 3-pointer. Officials ruled that Ball closed out in a “reckless nature" that could have injured Tatum. Ball fouled out on the play.

In the closing minute, Bridges was ejected after he knocked the ball into the stands.

“We can’t let our emotions get the best of us,” Bridges said.

Both coaches were assessed technical fouls in what Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla called a physical game. He refused to place any blame directly on Williams.

“I'm glad that (Tatum) is fine,” Mazzulla said. “What I liked the most is that he jumped right up and didn't lay around. It didn't faze him. He got right up, went to the free throw and did his business.”

Mazzulla said he liked the poise his team showed down the stretch.

First-year Hornets coach Charles Lee, who was an assistant to Mazzulla on last season's championship team, said the game will be a lesson for his players about the need to keep their cool.

“We have to realize the importance and the emotional maturity it takes to win a close game like this,” Lee said. “We really just want them to focus on what you can control. All those things that are outside of our grasp and outside of our control, we’ve got to let those distractions go and focus on stuff that’s going to help us build winning habits.”

The teams will play again Saturday night in Charlotte.

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Steve Reed, The Associated Press