“Three or four players said they wanted to see Grant Williams get his a** kicked”: Celtics coach Ime Udoka reveals his April’s Fools prank

Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka and forward Grant Williams celebrate April’s Fools day by staging a fake fight during a shootaround.

The Celtics locker room seems to be in a good mood, and rightly so, with the Cs playing exceptional basketball post the All-Star break. Jayson Tatum and co are 13-4 since the break and no.3 on the eastern conference standings.

Earlier this season, reports of hostility on the roster had surfaced in the media, especially after Marcus Smart called out his teammates Tatum and Brown for only focusing on themselves. Though many slammed Celtics guard for going public, things have only gotten better for the Cs since then.

Many believe the Celtics are legitimate title contenders this season, looking to end their championship drought of 14-years. There is an atmosphere of positivity within the organization, with coach Ime Udoka doing a phenomenal job in his first year as head coach.

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All work and no play make for a dull environment, and coach Udoka didn’t want the entertainment quotient on his team to be any low. Thus Udoka partnered with Grant Williams for an April Fool’s prank.

Ime Udoka and Grant Williams stage a fake fight during the team’s recent shootaround.

After LeBron James failed at his attempt to prank on April Fool’s day, the Lakers franchise’s long-term rivals Celtics would try their hands at pranking its crew. The notorious plan orchestrated via Coach Udoka had Grant Williams in focus.

While addressing the press, Udoka revealed that he and Grant had butted heads during the last game with the prank as a way of making a truce. Udoka added that nobody tried to get involved as the two went back and forth.

“It was a good one. I got everybody, literally – the coaching staff and all the players,” said Udoka. “Just whispered to Grant – we butted heads a little bit last game, had a few discussions, so this was my way of making it up to him and apologizing in front of the team I guess, but just got in a fake argument, and Grant likes to talk back, so it wasn’t unexpected that he had something to say back, but we started chirping, walked toward each other, and I expected a teammate or two or a coach to get in the middle, and that would have kind of turned it up from there, but nobody got in the way.”

“So we kept going and as people started to think it was very serious, we hugged and yelled, ‘April Fools!’ and fooled the whole gym. So it was crazy. Watching Rob on the side, and Jayson’s face, I almost started laughing a few times because some guys were looking like ‘Oh (bleep) what’s going on. But nobody got their teammate or their coach’s back, so they were gonna let us go.”‘

“I heard later, three or four players said they wanted to see Grant get his a** kicked,” said the Celtics coach.

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It was great to see the team vibe and with Coach Udoka trying to make it up to Williams, it only shows the great player-coach relationship.