Mazzulla: “if Anybody Ever Doubts D-white, They Don’t Really Care About Winning”

Whew. After 48 hard fought minutes of basketball, the Boston Celtics scraped out a gritty 108-100 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. With the win, the Celtics regain control of homecourt advantage and now lead the series 2-1.

The Celtics were dominating for the first 54 minutes of the series, but the Sixers have put together a hell of a response since then. It’s been back-and-forth, punches being thrown left and right, and at the end of three rounds, both teams are still standing. We’ve seen some haymakers, but no knockout punch just yet.

Philly has had a balanced scoring series so far with Tyrese Maxey leading the way with 27 points per game, followed by Paul George at 18, VJ Edgecombe at 17.7, Kelly Oubre at 13, and then Drummond at 8 ppg. Boston, on the other hand, has been very top heavy. Jaylen Brown is averaging 29 points per game, Jayson Tatum at 23, and then the only other double-digit scorer is Payton Pritchard, who squeaks through at 10.3 ppg.

Notably, Boston hasn’t gotten nearly enough from Derrick White in the scoring department. He’s just below the double-digit threshold, currently averaging 9.7 points per game, but he’s third on the team in field goals attempted, and is shooting an abysmal 29.4% from the floor (3.3 FGM/11.3 FGA), and 20% from three (1.7 3PM/8.3 3PA). It’s been easy to get frustrated with White’s production, or lack thereof, but he will always make winning plays at the end of the game, just as he did last night.

Sixty seconds left on the game clock, Celtics up by 3. Pritchard takes his time bringing the ball up, dishing it to Tatum after crossing half-court. Fifty seconds left on the game clock, Tatum waits patiently as the play develops.

Forty-three seconds on the game clock, 6 seconds on the shot clock; Tatum makes his move, driving against Adem Bona, and then kicks it to Nikola Vucevic in the corner. Thirty-nine seconds on the game clock, 3 on the shot clock; Vuc takes the corner three. The ball taking it’s time in the air. It’s off.

Thirty-seven seconds left on the game clock. Derrick White, after crashing in from the opposite corner, skies over the top of two Sixers players to grab the offensive board and keep the most crucial possession of the game alive. He takes a second to catch his balance and kick the ball over to Payton Pritchard to avoid falling out of bounds with the ball.

Thirty-three seconds left on the game clock; the Celtics reset the possession with Tatum at the top of the key. He burns some time. Twenty-eight seconds left on the game clock; Tatum sizes up Adem Bona. He pulls up for three.

Bang.

25.3 seconds left on the game clock, Celtics up by 6. Tatum hit the dagger. Philly timeout. The rest is history.

Obviously, JT is the one who put Boston up and the game away, but he doesn’t get that opportunity without Derrick White’s awareness. There’s no doubt that White had a really rough showing, 3-12 from the floor, 1-8 from three. It would be easy for most coaches to leave a player having a game like that on the bench at the end of the game, but White has proven time and time again that he will show up and make the right play, and that he did.

If Derrick doesn’t get that rebound, Philly is only down 3 with a perfect chance for a 2-for-1 opportunity. Instead, The Celtics get to limit the Sixers to one last meaningful possession while they hold a two-possession lead.

That also wasn’t the only time White showed up when the Celtics needed him. As hard as Philly was to contain, White managed to pick up 1 steal and 3 blocks over the course of the game. He fought through his own struggles, and gave his full effort on each and every play.

After the game Tatum had this to say about White: “We need him. I can say it 100 times. We need him, we need him, we need him… D-White is an unreal basketball player that still just has his imprint on the game, and makes plays on both end of the floor… When he’s open, we’re going to pass it to him, we want him to be aggressive.”

Joe Mazzulla shared a similar message: “Anybody that ever doubts D-White, they don’t really care about winning. There’s a competitive confidence piece there, there’s a character piece there. He’s not defined by shot making… Those two rebounds were big-time rebounds, and he can impact winning in so many different ways. I’m always gonna double down on his competitive character and who he is.”

It’s going to be hard for Celtics fans to stomach every shot Derrick misses; believe me, I feel it too. But he has a long history of making the right play. The coaches trust him, his teammates trust him, and we should too.