Boston Celtics: 3 players that must step up in Game 5 of NBA Finals
By Mark Nilon
The Boston Celtics find themselves heading back on the road, prepping for a Game 5 bout in the Bay Area with this year’s NBA Finals tied up at two games apiece.
Game 4 appeared to be a pristine opportunity for the shamrocks to take complete control of the series, as they had already taken away homecourt advantage from Golden State and were heading into a contest held on the parquet floor of the TD Garden fresh off of a dominating victory in the previous contest.
Sadly, they were unable to take care of business after completely flatlining in the final five minutes of regulation and, as a result, are once again all evened up with this dynastic Dubs squad.
Now, as we inch closer and closer to Monday night’s tip-off, fans and media pundits alike are all trying to think up ways in which the C’s can finally attain win No. 3 and, to us at HH, it will require 3 specific players stepping up:
Boston Celtics player No. 1) Grant Williams
Seemingly all postseason long, Grant Williams has been the most inconsistent member of the main rotation for the Boston Celtics, but especially during this year’s NBA Finals.
After having himself a career regular season, the third-year forward has been a shell of himself whilst on the biggest stage of his career, seeing rather pedestrian averages of 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds through four games into the championship round.
Essentially since the Milwaukee series–more specifically, Game 7 against the Bucks where he dropped an electrifying 27 points in the closeout victory–Williams has been looking more like Harry Houdini rather than the Houdini of the hardwood what with his vanishing acts, with his most recent performance coming in Game 4 where he finished with just three points and four fouls whilst shooting just two attempts from the field.
One of the team’s most reliable long-range snipers and easily one of their most underappreciated defenders, such a lowly turnout has the potential to be absolutely devastating for this team, and this proved to be the case Friday night and the shamrocks lost by double-figures.
In Game 5, Boston is going to need the real Grant Williams to step up and get himself more involved on both ends of the court.