Grant Williams has been a Draymond Green fan for a long time and has tried to model his game after the Golden State Warriors star. But there was no time for pleasantries between the two instigators in Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals.
Green received a technical foul after barreling into Williams in the first quarter of Sunday's game at Chase Center, then followed up with some pointed trash talk for the Boston Celtics forward.
"You're not me. You wanna be me," Green was seen telling Williams.
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Udoka had a great message to Celtics about Draymond's trash talk
When asked about his exchange with Williams on Tuesday, Green said he appreciates Williams' respect for his game but claimed the 23-year-old initiated Sunday's back-and-forth.
"When you see a guy say, 'Man, I grew up watching him,' you appreciate it, because that's why you work," Green said. "You work to create a path for the next young guy. Like, my goal when I came in here was to create a path for Grant Williams. To hear him say that is an honor, so I don't take that for granted one bit.
"... When you say that and then you start talking junk to me, then yes, I'm going to say something about that. Of course."
Boston Celtics
Green also found it puzzling that Williams would praise him prior to the series but then talk smack to him during the game.
"Once he starts going at me and it got chippy and he's yap, yap, yap -- all right, bro, you can't say that and then come and say this. It just doesn't add up to me," Green said.
Then again, Green has never passed up an opportunity to talk trash -- much like Williams, who has done his best to fill the Draymond role in Boston as a high-energy defender.
"I'm chirping back just as much," Williams said Tuesday in a 1-on-1 with NBC Sports Boston's Chris Forsberg. "... For me, it's just a matter of playing the game. We're both kind of similar, and as much as he's done it his whole life, I'm just the same. I'm not gonna back down."
As for his friendly conversation with Green, Williams had a different interpretation of the events, claiming the back-and-forth actually started after comments he made to an official.
"That was because of what I said to the referee. That wasn't because of anything else," Williams said. "He was saying that because I said (to the referee), 'You're letting this man talk to you a certain way,' and the referee said, 'No I don't,' and he said, 'You wanna be me,' I was like, 'See, I told you.'"
And despite Green's insistence that Williams played the role of instigator Sunday, the third-year forward says he's more of a reactionary trash-talker.
"I'm not the person who starts anything," he added. "I'm more so (bringing) the physicality and then after the chirping starts going, I start to talk back. I'm a person who responds more than anything else."
In reality, Green and Williams both do their fair share of starting on-court skirmishes. The difference in Game 2 was that Green's energy played a key factor in Golden State upping its defensive intensity, holding Boston to just 88 points.
Williams and the Celtics will need to match that energy and maintain their composure in Game 3 at TD Garden on Wednesday.