Revisiting the origins of the Grant Williams-Bam Adebayo rivalry originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
You might be very surprised to learn that Grant Williams has outscored Bam Adebayo through two games of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals — unless you follow North Carolina high school hoops.
Williams’ Boston Celtics and Adebayo’s Miami Heat are meeting in the East Finals for the second time in three years. The rivalry between Williams and Adebayo goes back to 2015, however: Adebayo was the highly-touted recruit starring for High Point (N.C.) Christian Academy, while Williams was the hardworking forward trying to make a name for himself at Providence Day School in Charlotte, N.C.
Forsberg: Marcus Smart has quieted his doubters as Celtics’ true PG
Providence Day and High Point met twice during that 2015-16 season — first during a Thanksgiving tournament and again in the state championship game. While Adebayo’s squad was favored in both contests, Williams’ team won both games, with Williams actually outscoring Adebayo 15-11 in their second matchup to help Providence Day win the state title.
The “highlight” from that game may have been Williams holding his ground to take a vicious charge from Adebayo, who was forced to leave the game with his fourth personal foul. (Skip to the 45:38 mark to watch the play.)
“I’m thinking he might not get up from this. He might be dead,” Williams’ high school coach, Brian Field, told The Athletic’s Jared Weiss back in 2020. “And Grant just pops right back up and it’s Bam’s fourth foul in the early third quarter.”
Fast forward to the 2022 postseason, where Williams has excelled as one of Boston’s best defenders while helping contain the likes of Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and, most recently, Adebayo.
While Adebayo enjoyed a career year during the regular season (19.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game), he’s been very quiet offensively through two games against the Celtics, with just 16 total points on 4 of 6 shooting. His old high school nemesis is partly to blame for that low production, as Williams has guarded Adebayo for a team-high 11 minutes and nine seconds through two games, per NBA tracking data.
Story continues
On the other end, meanwhile, Williams has blossomed into the secondary scorer that Adebayo should be for Miami. The 23-year-old dropped 19 points on 5 of 7 shooting in Boston’s Game 2 rout and has 26 points in the series, continuing an excellent postseason run in which he’s averaging 11.3 points per game for the Celtics.
Adebayo dominated the Celtics during the 2020 East Finals, averaging 21.8 points, 11.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists to help the Heat advance to the NBA Finals. But that version of Adebayo has yet to show up in 2022, thanks in part to the defensive work of Williams, who has made great strides over the last two seasons.
If Williams can continue outplaying his old high school rival, the odds will be heavily in the Celtics’ favor as the series shifts back to Boston for Game 3.
