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Hornets' Grant Williams Ejected After Running Over Ex-Celtics Teammate Jayson Tatum

The Boston forward looked dismayed by the Charlotte forward's Flagrant 2.

Patrick Andres

Grant Williams in 2024.
Grant Williams in 2024. / John Jones-Imagn Images
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Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum were teammates for four years—from 2020 to '23—and won an Eastern Conference title together.

You wouldn't know that by the way they interacted with each other Friday evening during the Hornets' game against the Celtics.

With a little over two minutes left in the contest and Boston up 114–105, Tatum grabbed a defensive rebound and looked to bring the ball up the court. As he neared center court, Williams body-checked Tatum and sent him tumbling to the ground.

Tatum appeared perturbed by the play, though he took no action against Williams.

The referees did, however, assessing Williams a Flagrant 2 foul and throwing him out of the game.

Williams finished his evening with six points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes, while Tatum tallied 32 points and 11 rebounds in 36 minutes.

The Celtics wound up polishing off the victory 124–109 to move to 5-1 on the season.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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