Derrick White has turned into a true game-changer for the Celtics

“It impacts you and inspires you when guys like Jrue (Holiday) and DWhite are getting chase-down blocks,” Jayson Tatum said after Boston’s win over Miami. “You don't want to be, necessarily, I guess the weak link out there. You want to hold your own.”

Boston has blocked 17 shots over their first two games, second-most in the NBA. Kristaps Porzingis has six of them. Holiday and White have combined for nine. 

“During the game, he was like ‘We're gonna see who has more blocks at the end of the year,’” White said of an exchange with Holiday. “He's a special defender, so it's a lot of fun out there.”

While Holiday is working through a lot of what White went through two trade deadlines ago, White has hit a stride that seemed improbable when he first arrived. He played tentatively and had to be encouraged to play physically and even take the occasional foul. Fast forward to Friday night against Miami, and White seems like a different guy. 

“I think his confidence level continues to rise,” Tatum said. “As he’s gotten more comfortable with us and in his own skin, the talent has always been there, but he’s starting to show more emotion and obviously have more freedom and things like that. That helps as well. So, D White was big for us tonight on both ends.”

White broke a tie early in the fourth quarter by going on a personal 8-2 run that forced Erik Spoelstra to call a timeout. Points six, seven, and eight came on an audacious pull-up Heat check against a retreating Duncan Robinson. 

“Hearing it from some of the top guys in the league that they want me to be aggressive gives you more confidence,” White said. “And Joe’s given me more confidence from the moment he stepped into the head coaching position, so all those combined just gotta go out there and be aggressive.”

A year ago, White wasn’t getting any minutes down the stretch. He played all 12 fourth-quarter minutes against Miami, putting up 14 points, an assist, and one of those blocks on Butler. He almost matched the combined 16 points from Butler, Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo in the fourth.  

“D White is coming into his own,” Jaylen Brown said. “He's stepping up as a leader. You hear it in his voice a little bit more. He's getting us organized running that point, trying to figure out where to get guys the ball, trying to keep the flow and organization. And again, D White has took a lot of great steps. So we just got to keep encouraging him to do that on both sides of the ball. We need him.”

The Celtics have normally resorted to a heavy dose of Tatum and Brown as the primary ball-handlers down the stretch, so it was especially telling that the job fell more on White in this game than any we’ve seen in his time here.

“I thought Derrick did a great job of not only making plays when he had the ball, but setting the table and putting guys where they were supposed to go and making sure we were attacking the right matchup with the right set and the right coverage,” Joe Mazzulla said. “All of our guys need to have an awareness of what we’re trying to accomplish on these possessions, who do we need to get involved, and how do we do it together.”

That's true. It won’t always be White initiating the offense in fourth quarters. But the fact that he did and he could is a huge deal for the Celtics. Slowly, we’re seeing that Boston doesn’t just have to be a two-star team with everyone else on the floor geared towards funneling them the ball. In New York, it was Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis slamming the door shut. Against Miami, Brown and White did the job. Who knows who it will be on Monday or Wednesday, but the more options the Celtics have to close games, the tougher they will be to defend. 

“It feels great. It shows the depth of our team,” said Tatum, who only chipped in three fourth-quarter points. “We’ve got a really, really talented team, guys that can make shots, make plays, so this was a really great team win and we figured it out, and it felt good to win this way.”

The reason why Brad Stevens targeted White in the first place was his ability to make the right play and work like crazy to do it. When he got here, it was clear that he was a ball-mover who, if he could get his jumper working, could be a pretty good player. Now it’s clear he’s even more. White has turned into a clutch scorer, a true playmaker, and a game-changer who has shown no layup is safe when he’s around … especially if you think you got a head start on him. 

“The plays he made tonight were sick. They were just sick plays,” Mazzulla said. “There’s not another word to describe them. That’s just what he does.”