‘Big-time player’: Derrick White reminds Celtics of his importance with key Game 5 performance

After producing a strong regular season, the postseason has been uneven for Derrick White. He was one of the Celtics’ best players in the Hawks series, but struggled some against the 76ers and lost his place in the starting lineup.

But this Celtics team is at its best when a fully confident White is playing well. He returned to the starting lineup for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals as Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla searched for answers to his stagnant offense. In Game 5, White made it clear that he’s one of the biggest keys if the Celtics will finish off a historic comeback against the Heat.

White played his all-around best game of the playoffs in the victory. He scored a team-high 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting, which included six 3-pointers. But his defense may have been even better. White was relentless on that side of the ball, making life uncomfortable for a Heat team that had been far too comfortable to start to this series, and his play was critical for a dominant Celtics defense effort in which they forced 16 turnovers.

“D-White, Second Team All Defense this year for a reason,” Jayson Tatum said. “He’s a big part of our team, our identity, things we try and do on the defensive end. He’s a very smart basketball player on both ends, and his awareness, his instincts, they showed tonight.”

And whenever the Celtics needed a big shot, White seemed to be the source. He made three triples in the first quarter that helped the C’s surge to a big lead, including two big ones in the final two minutes that killed momentum from the Heat. As the clock expired on the first quarter, White drained a fadeaway 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Boston a 15-point lead.

White made three more triples that helped the Celtics sustain a big double-digit lead, which had proven to be surmountable for the Heat in the first two games of the series. But White’s shots helped kill their hopes. More importantly, White took them all without hesitation, with full confidence. As the Celtics try to win two more games to make history, they need to continue to make outside shots. White is a big part of that.

“Big-time player, big-time shots tonight,” Jaylen Brown said. “D-White came ready to play. As soon as they gave him any space, he let it fly, and he got hot from downtown. Not just on offense but on defense. His aggressiveness is key. They try to put him into matchups at times, and his ability to be able to block shots, chase guys off shooters, guard the best player, get out in transition, that’s the greatest shot. That’s really key for our team.”

Crowd pleasers

The Celtics have not been good at home in the postseason, and they’re well aware. They were 10-11 in their previous 21 home playoff games entering Thursday, before they delivered a worthy performance for their raucous TD Garden crowd in their Game 5 win.

“I’m just glad we gave them something to cheer about today,” Tatum said. “We got the best fans in the league, and up until today, this series we haven’t gave them much to cheer for at home, so I was glad that our performance matched the energy that they were giving us, and obviously they raise our level. They’re a big part of what we do, especially at home. We feed off that a lot.”

Heat remain confident

Even though they’re in danger of suffering a historic collapse, the Heat are not remotely panicked. They know they’re still in an advantageous position, leading the series 3-2 with a chance to clinch a berth to the NBA Finals on their home floor. No situation worries this Heat team, which had to overcome adversity all season and barely made the postseason as a play-in team.

“Guys are so confident because they have been in this position all year long with guys in and out of the lineup,” Jimmy Butler said. “They are constantly working on their game. So they don’t switch up anything just because it’s Game 5 of the playoffs or Game 5 of the season. They are going to do what they are comfortable with. They are going to do whatever you ask them to do. They are going to play well. I feel like they did in the possessions and the time that they got out there.”

The Heat star all but guaranteed victory in Saturday’s Game 6 even after the Heat delivered back-to-back duds.

“The last two games are not who we are,” Butler said. “It just happened to be that way. We stopped playing defense halfway because we didn’t make shots that we want to make. But that’s easily correctable. You just have to come out and play harder from the jump. Like I always say, it’s going to be all smiles and we are going to keep it very, very, very consistent, knowing that we are going to win next game.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3AY9Uas