You can hardly blame him for getting excited.
In yesterday’s Martin Luther King Day victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics rookie forward Grant Williams casually launched a 3-pointer from the corner, watched it swish, and turned to give a thumbs-up sign to the nearest people to him.
That happened to be the Lakers’ bench.
The Tennessee product was immediately whistled for taunting the opposing team’s bench, eliciting a smile not just from the rookie but Lakers center DeMarcus Cousins and much of the rest of L.A.’s bench.
Williams went through an epic missing streak to start the season, missing his first 25 threes; had the ref realized this, they might have realized there was a very good chance the first-year swingman was just happy to hit a shot from deep.
Perhaps the referee did indeed and was simply bound by the rules to call the violation. But Boston was up enough it didn’t really matter, and provided a moment of comic relief for all involved.
