Jimmy Butler laughs off Grant Williams’ taunting: Not ‘best person to talk to’

Jimmy Butler doesn’t know if he’s the optimal recipient of trash-talk.

The Celtics had a 96-87 lead with 6:22 remaining in Game 2 when Boston’s Grant Williams got in Butler’s face.

When it was all said and done Butler scored nine points in the remainder of the game, which the Heat won 111-105 at TD Garden on Saturday night, to take an improbable 2-0 lead back to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals.

“It makes me key in a lot more and it pushes that will that I have to win a lot more,” Butler told reporters after the game.

“It makes me smile. It does, when people talk to me. I’m like, ‘OK, I know I’m a decent player if you want to talk to me out of everyone you can talk to.’ It’s competition. I do respect him, though. He’s a big part of what they’re trying to do. He switches [on defense]. He can shoot the ball.

“I just don’t know if I’m the best person to talk to.”

Butler was also asked by a reporter if Williams was the answer to him on defense.

“Hell nah,” Butler answered. “He wasn’t.”

Williams also explained his side of the exchange after the game.

“I think he said something and I just responded,” Williams said. “For me, I’m a competitor. I’m gonna battle, he got the best of me tonight and at the end of the day it’s out of respect.”

Williams’ teammate, Jaylen Brown, was asked by a reporter if Williams “made a mistake poking the bear.”

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1659777646371426304

Brown had a succinct answer: “Next question.”

There have been differing reactions in the commentariat about how much blame Williams deserves for the Celtics’ collapse.

“People blaming [Coach Joe] Mazzula, Brown, [Jayson] Tatum etc. Saying Grant played well blah, blah blah. Doesn’t matter,” tweeted Barstool Sports founder and huge Celtics fan Dave Portnoy. “Game was never in doubt in my mind till Williams got into it with Butler. You just can’t do that. You can’t have bench guys start wars with superstars. It’s the law of sports.”

Ringer founder Bill Simmons had a different opinion.

“Hanging that loss on Grant Williams is ridiculous,” Simmons has done that all playoffs. And the Celts have blown that exact game like 15-16 times this season. They get out-thought and out-executed in 4Q by any smart team.”