Draymond Green confronts Grant Williams for a foul on Jayson Tatum

“To think that a blow from the side “at you” is an offense worthy of a smile means one of two things: You are unconscious or you are an idiot… And both make you an idiot… idiots

“He was mad at JT about something lol… 💍😲 He should keep him in Boston lol. JT got a call and the guy vented his frustration about it.”

Williams, who was ejected after hitting Tatum at full speed and knocking him to the ground as the Celtics star dribbled in transition in the fourth quarter, explained that he was “trying to pass the ball” and had no ill intentions.

“JT is one of my closest friends in the league, there was no intentional attempt to harm him in any way,” Williams told reporters. “It was just one of those plays where he passes the ball quickly and at full speed, which probably makes it worse. When I reached for the ball afterwards, the ball was already out of his hand. I don't think it will lead to anything unless it escalates after the fact. You see me raising my hand and saying I fouled him when he tried to collect the foul in transition, was stopped by teammates and walked away.”

Green and Williams appeared to have mutual respect for each other after the Warriors defeated the Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals. But Green criticized Williams for his role in a scuffle in a game between the Hornets and Warriors last season, telling him to “stop with all the tough guy behavior.”

Former Celtics player and current NBC Sports Boston analyst Eddie House had a similar opinion to Green about Williams' foul on Tatum.

“Just because we might be cool, there’s something right,” House said on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame show. “It's not even a game with the ball. It's something that's built within him. This play wasn't a basketball play and could have done something crazy to Jayson Tatum. Thank God that wasn’t the case.”

Celtics star Jaylen Brown confronted Williams shortly after the foul, saying after the game, “It wasn't a basketball game” and “Grant knows better.”

House, who jokingly suggested that Williams was acting like an informant, wasn't sure what was behind the former Celtics star's actions in the game.

“He'll come over and say, 'I was just trying to commit a foul.' “We don’t want to hear that, we know it wasn’t a basketball game,” House said. “Just like Jaylen said, he knows better. Or maybe not. Maybe he just thinks: This is what I'm going to do and it doesn't matter.

“There are certain ways to physicalize the tone in the game, and there are certain ways to be borderline dirty or dirty. “That was exactly a mess in the way of being dirty.”

Tatum had a strong performance in the Celtics' 124-109 win, with the five free throws he made off Williams' foul and LaMelo Ball's Flagrant 1 foul in the final minutes contributing to his score. The Celtics star finished the game with 32 points to go, 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block.

However, Tatum chose not to speak to the media after the win. So it's still unclear if Tatum has any animosity toward his former teammate for the game. But it should be a more exciting duel than a typical Celtics-Hornets game in November when the two teams meet again on Saturday.