When the top two teams in the Eastern Conference squared off on Tuesday night, most fans expected it to be a good game. Even with Boston going up double digits in the first half, there was a feeling the Cavaliers would make a run.
In the fourth quarter, if you want to pull away from a team, normally you need someone to step up. For Boston, that was Derrick White.
White scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to will Boston to victory and to close the gap with Cleveland in the standings to just 4.5 games. In addition to his scoring, White grabbed five rebounds and recorded two steals.
With 4:13 left in the game, Boston led 99-95. Then White went on a heater, scoring eight straight points to help Boston go on an 8-2 run. The run gave the Celtics a 107-97 lead with 2:43 left in regulation.
Even though the Celtics are filled with stars, whenever White gets the ball, I’m confident that he’s going to make a play. It may not always be him scoring, but with the ball in his hands, he rarely makes a mistake. Joe Mazzulla talked about White’s impact and what he brings to the team.
“Everything. When he plays that way, we’re a totally different team. It’s important that he keeps that, because of his ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor,” Mazzulla said. “That’s Derrick, that’s who he is: the late game shot-making, the ability to make plays. That’s who he is for us, and we got to continue to fight to make sure he keeps that belief and confidence.”
It’s important to have a short memory when your shots aren’t falling and for White, he admitted to missing open shots in the first half but once he “cleared his head” he was locked in when the second half started.
“It’s good to make them, especially late. Obviously, I had some good looks early and I was missing them. I missed the layup at the end of the half, but I just kind of cleared my head in the locker room and knocked some down there down the stretch,” White said.
NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin asked White, “what comes over you in those moments?”
“I just try to enjoy the moment. Big time game and just blessed to play basketball,” White said. “Just enjoying the moment, getting a lot of good looks and knock them down.”
According to CelticsBlog’s and CLNS’ Noa Dalzell, Kristaps Porzingis called Derrick White one of the “clutchest players on the team.” When Dalzell asked if White identifies himself as a clutch player, he said:
“I just want to make shots, especially in those moments. JT, JB, KP get a lot of attention and you got to live with something, so just try to step up and shoot them with confidence and knock them down. I was able to do that tonight.”
Derrick White tonight: 20 points (7-14 FG, 6-12 3PT) 5 rebounds 2 assists 2 steals, 1 block He scored 14 points on 5-of-6 (83.3%) shooting from the field and 4-of-5 (80%) from three in the 4th.
He’s back, and so are the Celtics, who have won 8 of 11 pic.twitter.com/XhGbM9KVgv
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) February 5, 2025
White praised the bench unit for keeping Boston in the game and credited them as the reason why the Celtics were able to pull through in the end.
“They’re unbelievable. Sam as well. You look at their plus/minus, they’re the reason we won this game. Both halves they were unbelievable. Payton made big plays down the stretch, Al made big plays for us, it’s a good win for us,” White said.
In the final three minutes of the game, Mazzulla elected to close the game with both Jrue Holiday (until the Cavs started fouling) and Jaylen Brown on the bench, showing the confidence he has in guys like Pritchard to close the game.
When White was asked if he thinks this game should be a reminder to the league that they’re still the same team from last year, White took the opportunity to talk about getting better.
“Not a reminder. I don’t think people forgot who we are. We have a lot of things we need to improve and do better, so that’s the exciting part. Just got to keep grinding,” White said.
