WHITE'S GROWTH, AND OTHER TAKEAWAYS
MIAMI — What a difference a year makes for Derrick White.
The Celtics guard was admittedly tentative when he arrived in Boston at last season's trade deadline. He didn't want to step on any toes. But he got over those initial jitters. He was confident and comfortable this season, and it showed in his performance as he became a fulltime starter, one of the Celtics' most important players and an All-defensive team selection.
What better way to show that growth than on Saturday night, when his miracle tip-in at the buzzer saved the Celtics' season in epic fashion?
“If you don't know who DWhite is, you know who he is now,” Marcus Smart said. “I mean, that dude has been phenomenal for us this whole, whole year. You know, just playing the way that we knew he could play when we picked him up.
“It's been refreshing for us, and it's been a joy to watch and a joy to be on the court with him.”
White's humility has always stood out. The sixth-year guard has never been an attentionseeker. He doesn't say much. He lets his play do the talking.
But you could tell how much this moment meant to him. When the basket was officially counted, he let out a big roar as his teammates mobbed him. He had tears in his eyes during his on- court interview with TNT.
Still, he didn't want to make it about himself. He said multiple times after that he's just happy the Celtics won. He recognized the attention he was receiving, with his phone blowing up, but was looking forward to getting home to see his 1-year- old son Hendrix, who was born during last season's Eastern Conference Finals.
“Get home (Sunday), play with Hendrix,” White said. “I'm sure he won't look at me any differ
ently, so that'll be really cool.”
The play was impressive, but White kept a simple mindset. After inbounding the ball to Marcus Smart, White's instincts took over as the shot went up. When it missed, he was in perfect position.
“It don't do no good to stand in the corner there, whether he makes it or not,” White said. “So I just was crashing the glass, and it came right to me.”
And about that attention? White became the second player in league history to make a gamewinning buzzer beater
with his team trailing and facing elimination. The first? Michael Jordan's “The Shot” over Craig Ehlo in 1989.
Some other takeaways and thoughts from the Celtics' Game 6 win:
— White's impact in this series has been felt in more ways than just his legendary buzzer-beater. His play has been instrumental in the Celtics' comeback to force Game 7. He made six 3-pointers in Game 5. And before the winning moment in Game 6, his strong defense on Jimmy Butler put them in position. The Heat star went 0-for- 6 with White as his primary defender, per ESPN tracking.
— Speaking of Butler, it was hard not to feel a lit
tle deja vu as he led the Heat to their late comeback. Last season, the Heat trailed the Celtics by double digits with less than four minutes to go in Game 7 and stormed back before Butler's late go- ahead 3- pointer fell short. That loss has fueled this Heat team, and it looked like Butler had gotten his redemption on Saturday. He willed the Heat to another comeback after trailing by double digits late and this time put them ahead with three free throws. Then White performed his miracle.
It's crazy how narratives can change in an instant. If Smart's miss bounces another way, the talk would be how the Celtics blew another lead and lost the sea
son in devastating fashion, and Butler would be looked at as a hero after overcoming a bad shooting night to lead the Heat to the Finals.
— So many plays can be easily forgotten because of the way Game 6 ended. One that shouldn't is Al Horford's insane block of a Bam Adebayo dunk attempt with 7:15 left in the fourth. The C's had just retaken the lead after the Heat's surge early in the quarter and Horford's block ensured Boston kept some critical momentum.
— Sometimes you need to get a little bit lucky to win a close playoff game, and the Celtics dodged two bullets when Duncan Robinson — a 43.8 percent 3-point shooter in the playoffs — missed a pair of re
ally good looks from deep late in the game. The first would have tied the game with 1:24 left. The second would have given the Heat a two-point lead with 22 seconds left.
— Joe Mazzulla has received fair criticism in the playoffs, but he should get credit for helping rally the C's out of their 3- 0 series hole and for how he navigated some situations in Game 6. He made a risky move by inserting Jaylen Brown back in the game with four fouls with 5:30 left in the third, but it paid off. Brown didn't commit another foul and scored 13 of his 26 points after coming back in, which included some big plays.
Initially, it seemed that Mazzulla made a mis
take when he challenged the foul call on Horford on the Heat's final possession because Butler's shot was overturned from a 2-pointer to a 3-pointer, giving him three foul shots that allowed the Heat to take the lead. But a review of the shot being a 2 or 3 would have been made regardless if Mazzulla challenged the play.
The challenge actually benefited the Celtics because the time remaining was changed from 2.1 to 3.0 seconds, which was ultimately critical because it gave the C's enough time for White's putback. According to the league, the clock would not have been reviewed unless the play was triggered by a challenge.