Playing the Lakers at Staples Center in Los Angeles can be an intimidating task for opposing teams. The arena is steeped in history with championship banners and retired jerseys of some of the greatest players of all time and it often hosts the biggest stars in the world each night.
As Boston Celtics rookie Grant Williams saw firsthand, former NBA legends have also been known to stop in. Williams met Hall of Famer Bill Russell on Sunday afternoon as the Lakers hosted the Celtics in a matinee special and he just decided to introduce himself to the former Celtics great.
Williams told reporters after the 114-112 loss to the Lakers that he went up to Russell at halftime to thank him for everything that he did for the game of basketball, according to Tom Westerholm of MassLive.
I said I was thankful, because he was so impactful. He was a dude who was one of the best players in the game, a historic Boston legend, and honestly it was just good to see him in person for the first time. You see all the celebrities in LA and all this stuff, but I was more focused on Bill Russell than anybody else. Denzel was there, all those other guys, but Bill was special.
The rivalry between the Celtics and Lakers in older times was perhaps one of the biggest in professional sports. They faced each other four times in the NBA Finals during the 1960s as Russell was in the prime of his career.
Though the Celtics were handed the loss, the moment for Williams will likely be one he never forgets after meeting the Hall of Famer.
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