Jaylen Brown has slammed Grant Williams’ ‘cheap shot’ on Boston Celtics team-mate Jayson Tatum.

The NBA champions traveled to take on the Charlotte Hornets on Friday but the contest was overshadowed by an outrageous play by Williams, as he charged into Tatum and flattened his former team-mate with just over two minutes to play in Boston’s 124-109 victory.

As Tatum dribbled forward, Williams barged into the five-time All-Star, receiving a flagrant 2, resulting in an immediate ejection. The incident left a sour taste and clearly upset Brown, who hit out at Williams in his post-game interview.

“I don’t know what that was about. I think that spoke for itself. That wasn’t a basketball play. Grant knows better than that,” Brown said. “Actions speak loud, it is what it is, we got we win and we can go on but there is no place in the game for that/ I thought JT and Grant was friends. I guess not.”

Williams told NBC Sports that his hard foul was not intentional and that he and Tatum are good friends. “Probably a hard foul, definitely not intentional, definitely not trying to hurt him by any means,” Williams told Burton. “We all know that’s one of my closest friends in the league.”

But Brown isn’t buying Williams’ version of the event. “It was for sure intentional,” he said. “What are we talking about? Did ya’ll see the same play? He hit him like it was a football play, Ray Lewis coming across the middle or something.” It remains unclear whether Williams will face discipline for his play.

Celtics coach Mazzulla also had his say on the collision; however, his comments did raise eyebrows as he opted not to criticize Williams. “I loved it. It was great. It was tremendous,” Mazzulla said, per NBC Sports. “Physical game, guys handled it well. Great poise, great execution. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Jayson Tatum high fives Grant Williams

Williams and Tatum were team-mates at the Boston Celtics ( 

Image:

Getty Images)

The head coach added: “I don’t like to see him (get trucked). I’m glad that he’s fine. What I liked most was how he jumped right up, didn’t lay around, didn’t really faze him. Just went right up, went to the free-throw line, did his business. I don’t like the fact that he did it, but I’m happy he’s OK. But I’m more happy how he responded to it. Just get up, move on to the next play and the team responded well, too. It’s a credit to him.”

Williams added in his interview with NBC Sports that he had to change his post-game plans, revealing he had planned to host several Celtics players for dinner after the game. “I would assume most of those guys won’t be coming over for dinner tonight,” Williams quipped. “I had wings and stuff prepared, so it’s kind of funny that the game ended that way. But I’ll see them tomorrow; we’ll compete again.”