Grant Williams misses game-winning free throws after confidently telling Cavaliers that he'd hit both

BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics are finding new and embarrassing ways to lose basketball games. Grant Williams may have found the bottom of the barrel Monday night in Cleveland.

The undermanned Celtics -- playing without Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Robert Williams -- did what the fully stacked Celtics having been doing as of late: They blew a double digit lead in the second half. Boston let the Cavaliers erase an 11-point deficit with under five minutes to play, setting up a frantic final seconds at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

A pair of Donovan Mitchell free throws made it a 109-109 game with 5.1 seconds to go. Celtics guard Payton Pritchard sped down the floor and missed a potential game-winning layup, but Boston got another opportunity to steal a victory when Williams flew in for the offensive rebound and was fouled on his putback attempt with 0.8 seconds left.

Williams has hit a rough patch over the last few weeks and has been in desperate need of a confidence boost. Stepping to the free throw line with a chance to win it for the Celtics was a great way to get his head straight and regain some of his past glory.

Some trash talk ensued, with Mitchell and the Cavs hoping to ice the Celtics forward at the line. Williams isn't afraid to talk himself, so he confidently told Mitchell that he was going to make both free throws.

Talking some smack is fine. As long as you back it up. Williams, however, did not back it up.

His first attempted clanged off the rim. That's how it's been for the Celtics lately. Nothing has been easy, but at least Williams still had another chance to give Boston a last-second lead.

The Cavaliers made Williams do some extra thinking about his free throw with a handful of subs. The Celtic then did the same, sending in big bodies Blake Griffin and Luke Kornet -- just in case.

Williams had over 40 seconds between his two free throw attempts. When he finally let his second attempt fly, that one too failed to go through the hoop. Marcus Smart's tip-in bid came up short, and for the second straight night, the Celtics were heading to overtime. 

And for the second straight night, the Celtics lost an overtime game that they should have won in regulation. The Cavaliers pulled away over the extra five minutes of basketball, and handed the Celtics a 118-114 loss -- Boston's fourth loss in its last five games.

This slump has been full of forced shots on offense, breakdowns on defense, and mental miscues all over the court. The Celtics need to snap out of it as a whole, and they need Williams to regain his form before the postseason.

Williams had an otherwise strong night against the Cavs, with a dozen points off 4-for-6 shooting from the floor and four rebounds. Sinking either of those freebies and leading the C's to a much needed win would have been a great way for the 24-year-old to get going again.

Instead, the Celtics and Williams dropped a little more. Monday's defeat has the Celtics two games behind the first-place Milwaukee Bucks in the East with 16 games left in the regular season.