The Milwaukee Bucks were absolutely clamped up by the Boston Celtics in their Game 2 clash after the Bucks pulled off a great Game 1 win away from home. The series now heads to Milwaukee with both teams having won one game apiece. The final score for Game 2 was 86-109, one of the worst offensive performances by the Bucks this season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was the only Buck that could do any damage on the Celtics’ defense, but even that was heavily mitigated by the performance of Grant Williams. Antetokounmpo may have 28 points, but that would be underselling the impact Williams had on Giannis when the pair had matched up.
Williams was responsible for many of the 6 Giannis turnovers and did a phenomenal job in guarding him one-on-one and holding him to 40% shooting. He discussed how he guarded Giannis after the win.
"I view it as guarding him on an island… It's just one of those things that you have to kinda hunker down and trust in the work that you've done and do your best to contain one of the best players in the world"
Grant Williams on guarding Giannis in Game 2. pic.twitter.com/aXulJcLmnd
— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2022
“I view it as guarding him on an island. It’s just you and him, you have to do your job. And for us, that’s how we kinda viewed the first game, just see how it goes. He tried to be a lot more aggressive in the second half and getting downhill, creating for himself. It’s just one of those things that you have to kinda hunker down and trust in the work that you’ve done and do your best to contain one of the best players in the world”
Many people across the internet were also having a great time watching Williams have the performance he did against Giannis, with Twitter blowing up about the performance. Grant also had 21 points on the other end, with blistering hot 6/9 shooting.
giannis watching grant williams check into the game pic.twitter.com/RGOZ6h9EKi
— griffin (@griffin802) May 4, 2022
Grant Williams really locking up KD and Giannis in back-to-back rounds that’s crazy
— Cousin Larry OB ☘️🏆 (@AndrewDoxy) May 4, 2022
Nba players when they see Grant Williams switch onto them pic.twitter.com/dlcMEr1oj8
— semaJ (@semaJ7272) May 3, 2022
Not sure I’ve seen anyone defend Giannis better in a half than Grant Williams just did.
Can’t believe I just typed that.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) May 4, 2022
Williams pulled off one of the greatest individual defensive performances on Giannis, but the question is whether he can do this for a possible 5 more games. The Celtics as a team played very well defensively, giving the Bucks a lot of problems.
Giannis was limited in this game because of how Grant played him when they faced up, as no other Celtic looked to cheat off their man and give open looks to the others. When it came to Giannis attacking, Grant was the remedy. Hopefully, this series has a lot more drama and we see more performances like this.
