Celtics Go Wild After Grant Williams Finally Drains His First Three
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- In his 21st NBA game, on his 26th attempt from three-point range, Celtics rookie Grant Williams finally drained a shot from downtown.
Williams canned his first NBA triple in the third quarter of Boston's blowout victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night. The rookie usually has a wide smile on his face anyways, and his euphoria was shared by everyone on the Boston bench -- not to mention all of those packed inside the TD Garden.
Throughout his drought, Williams has never held his head. And though he's shooting just 3.8 percent from downtown, he won't be discouraged from putting up more long-range attempts.
"I'm still going to shoot them the same way I was before, just letting it go," Williams told reporters after Boston's 110-88 win. "But it feels cool to be able to say I made one."
The only unfortunate casualty of Williams ending his three-point dry spell is that he won't be given any clever nicknames by Brad Wanamaker anymore. Or, at least any clever nicknames that have to do with his 0fer.
When Williams reached 20 three-point attempts without a make, his nickname was "Dub." It evolved to "legal" when the streak hit 21, and "Catch 22" when he reached 22 straight attempts without a make.
Upon seeing Williams finally drain one Monday night, Wanamaker fell off his chair on the Boston bench.
"Brad fell out. Brad passed out that's crazy," Williams joked, adding that the nicknames made it fun for him.
So did the reaction from his teammates, though Williams couldn't share everything that was being said on the Boston bench.
"When Brad fell out and Carsen was going crazy, Theis was being Theis. Tacko was in the locker room, I actually felt his energy on the court from here. It was a good moment," he said. "A relieving moment, I'll say that."
"I love it when they celebrate anything together," said head coach Brad Stevens. "It was good to see one go down."
Jaylen Brown revealed another nickname that was given to Williams during his slump: Ben Simmons. It took the 76ers guard over two seasons to make his first three-pointer, and he's up to two makes this season. Simmons is 2-for-21 from downtown for his career.
Williams will never be considered a threat from long distance, thought teams may now think twice before leaving him on an island of his own. But what the story really does is highlight the camaraderie on this Celtics team, that something that would usually be a source of frustration for a player turned into something fun for the whole team.
The rookie took it all in stride, the misses and the nicknames. Now he finally has a three to his name, and his smile has gotten a little bigger.
