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Ime Udoka benched Grant Williams for complaining to refs in Celtics’ loss to Heat: ‘It’s a common theme with us’ Updated: Oct. 15, 2021, 9:57 p.m. | Published: Oct. 15, 2021, 9:57 p.m. Grant Williams Boston Celtics' Grant Williams handles the ball during the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies in an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Mike Ehrmann/Pool Photo via AP) 1,938 shares By Brian Robb | [email protected] Ime Udoka has tried to get the Celtics roster to change some of their ways and play his brand of basketball during his first month as head coach.

A big point of emphasis on that front from Udoka has been playing through adversity, particularly when it comes to tough calls from officials. The head coach spoke at length earlier this preseason about not wanting to be a team that cries about calls.

Grant Williams found himself doing exactly that however with just under eight minutes to play in the third quarter on Friday night against the Miami Heat. Williams was whistled for a moving screen and spent the next few seconds pleading his case to officials rather than finding his man back on defense. Heat big man Bam Adebayo took advantage of the distraction by going coast-to-coast for a dunk as Williams was unable to recover to him in time. Udoka called timeout immediately after the play and replaced Williams with Juancho Hernangomez after the timeout. The head coach spoke about the benching after the 122-100 Celtics’ loss.

“Two reasons,” Udoka said of sitting Williams down. “Him complaining, but also I think he picked up his fourth foul on that play if I remember correctly, but yeah. The main thing, I’m telling him to get back and stop worrying about the referee - your guy is bringing it right behind you. So that was part of it, but I think he did have his fourth foul as well.

“Just a learning moment. You can’t get caught up in that. You have to play through it just like they did. They played with pace. When we cried about calls, they were running out and got too many easy looks. So something like I said we talked about early in camp. It’s something I’m going to keep hammering away on until we get where we want to be.”

The Celtics played well in much of the first half against the Miami Heat despite missing five rotation players for the matchup. However, after building a six-point first quarter lead, Boston started coming unglued when whistles didn’t go their way in the second quarter. That’s a trend Udoka does want to see continue as the regular season approaches.

“It’s a common theme with us, and I want us to improve vastly in that area,” he said. “To your point, when things started going bad in the second quarter, we didn’t get a few foul calls, we lost composure on the other end, and started crying to the refs a little too much to get out in transition. We lost our focus on shooters, and I felt that was because of some of the foul calls. Just keep attacking the basket. Fouls are going to even out. But gotta keep our composure there. Say one thing and get back if you have to, but we want to keep technicals back and for the most part stay mentally tougher than we have been so far.”

Between the Williams’ benching and Marcus Smart’s one-game suspension for missing a team flight earlier this week, Udoka is working hard to set new standards for his revamped roster. Whether or not the team falls in line with his rules remains to be seen but he’s attempting to set a culture that holds his players accountable on and off the floor.

“You guys play through plays and move onto the next thing and let me be the guy that complains to the refs.” Udoka said earlier this month. “But that’s not the team we want to be and that’s not who I am, so I don’t want the team to start crying about every call.”

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