When the shot bounced off the rim in the fading seconds of Game 6 of the 2023 East finals vs. the Miami Heat, reserve Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams was thinking what many of the Celtics faithful were thinking.
“I was like, ‘Oh, no!,'” Williams told The Athletic’s Jay King. “And then I look up and (Derrick) White was a miracle.”
D-White’s buzzer-beating tip-in will go down as one of the all-time great sports moments in history, and its potential impact on Boston’s title aspirations could put it at or close to the top when all is said and done. But for a few seconds after the shot went through the hoop, there was confusion whether it counted.
“I didn’t run to Derrick because I didn’t want to get hyped and then the next thing you know we’re disappointed,” explained the former Tennessee standout.
A miraculous tip-in won the game for the Celtics and put Boston in a position to be the first team in the history of the NBA to overcome a 0-3 series deficit. https://t.co/tisMAC8xQr
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) May 28, 2023
“And then I just looked, looked up at the jumbotron, waiting for (the replay) to pull up, and then it showed that it got out of his hands and the red (light to signal the end of the game) goes afterward,” Williams added.
“And wherever D-White was, I ran to him,” finished the Charlotte native, recounting what, more or less the team did too in that ebullient moment.
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