Derrick White shrugged off a torrid three-quarter performance to emerge as a catalyst for the Boston Celtics’ 117-112 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, March 20. Coming into the fourth quarter, White had scored three points on 1-of-5 shooting. However, when Joe Mazzulla made the call to sit both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to start the final quarter, White found himself in a sink-or-swim moment.
During his postgame news conference, Mazzulla detailed his thought process behind thrusting White into such a prominent role during a close game on the road, with Boston’s three-game winning streak on the line.
“I just trust him to figure out,” Mazzulla said, via NBC Sports Boston. “I mean, he's going to make plays. He's always going to, even if he's not playing well; he's always going to wake up. Because it's not just the scoring. I mean, he had two offensive rebounds at the end of the game. He had a couple of blocks. He had the steal. I mean, he's always going to figure it out. And so some of that was with the lineup as well— let him figure it out with them, and when you can empower him and have opportunities to get him out of a little bit of a funk, it always helps. So some of that lineup was like, 'This is your time.' It's going a little bit of a run here.”
White responded to Mazzulla’s challenge, dropping 11 points in the fourth on 5-of-10 shooting. He also chipped in with three assists and two rebounds, as he helped spearhead a much-needed 33-point fourth quarter to help close out the game against a resilient Grizzlies roster.
“I was playing as bad as it gets for three quarters,” White told NBC Sports Boston. “I had to kind of help the team out a little bit. That's a lineup that we've used a lot this year. Obviously, Joe's got a lot of confidence in it. Found a way to get a win.”
In 67 games this season, White is averaging 17.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists, shooting 39.6% from the field. He continues to be an invaluable member of Boston’s rotation and a borderline All-Star talent. Being able to find some rhythm after a tough three quarters isn’t easy. Fortunately, White rose to the occasion, and Boston will head back home riding the wave of a fourth straight win.
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