Mazzulla and C players’ reaction to Grant Williams’ hard foul on Jayson Tatum originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Boston Celtics guard Derrick White summed up Friday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets in just a few words in his postgame interview.

“The stuff at the end was bullshit, but we won,” he told NBC Sports Boston’s Kayla Burton.

Boston cruised to a 124-109 victory in Charlotte, but the final result was overshadowed by a poor fourth quarter. Former Celtic Grant Williams was sent off with a Flagrant 2 after body checking his former teammate Jayson Tatum. The Celtics star immediately got up and went to the free throw line, but Jaylen Brown was visibly upset by Williams’ antics.

“I’m glad (Tatum) is OK,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “What I like most is how he jumped up right away, didn’t lay around, it didn’t really faze him. “He just got up, went to the foul line and did his business.

“I just like how JT handled it,” he added. “It was great. To be hit like that, to pop right back up, that’s a great thing.”

From there, the Hornets continued to melt away. Shortly after Williams’ ejection, LaMelo Ball was fouled after being hit with a flagrant 1, and Miles Bridges was ejected after getting a double-technical. All of this happened in the last 2:02 minutes of the game.

Williams later explained that his hard foul was unintentional and that Tatum was one of his close friends. Brown isn’t so sure anymore.

“I don’t know what it was about. I think that spoke for itself,” Brown said. “It wasn’t a basketball game. Grant knows better. …There’s no place for that in the game. I thought JT and Grant were friends. I do not think so.”

Brown also doesn’t believe Williams that the foul was unintentional.

“It was definitely intentional,” he said. “What are we talking about? Have you seen the same game? He hit him like it was a football game, Ray Lewis came across the middle or something.”

Williams spoke more about the piece in an exclusive interview with our Kayla Burton.

It remains to be seen whether Williams will face disciplinary action for his controversial play.

We can expect more fireworks when these two teams face off again on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ET. Coverage on NBC Sports Boston begins at 5:30 p.m Celtics Pregame Live.