'That S*** Was Crazy!' How Spurs Ex Derrick White Saved Celtics Season With One Shot
Boston Celtics point guard Marcus Smart sits courtside in Miami, hours before his team is set to face the Miami Heat for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
He watches his teammates warm-up, realizing the pressure that both he and they are about to face for 48 minutes, especially in a hostile South Beach environment.
Boston has its back against the wall, down 3-0, and suddenly Smart is surrounded by reporters. It's his turn to answer their obligatory questions, and he knows full well what he says is set to be broadcast to all of social media, but his confidence doesn't waver.
"Don't let us get one," he says, looking back at the media. "Just don't let us get one."
The Heat entered Game 4 with intent to close out the series and become the first team to sweep the series since LeBron James and the Cavs did it against Atlanta in 2014, but didn't get the job done.
Boston's message after winning both Game 4 and Game 5?
"Don't let us get another one."
Miami once again didn't get the job done, letting the Celtics games they were warned about giving them, and now, both teams sit knotted at 3-3 heading into a Game 7 Monday night.
Smart, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown did their thing to give Boston a chance at winning, but despite their best efforts, it wasn't any of them who kept the Celtics' chase of a league-leading 18th title alive.
It was former San Antonio Spurs guard Derrick White.
With three seconds left on the clock, White looked to inbound the ball, first searching for Jayson Tatum.
"[Gabe] Vincent was on me," he said. "He was up top denying [Tatum], so I couldn't get him the ball. They did a good job of denying Jaylen Brown, too, [so] Smart flashed and I hit him."
Smart got the ball at the left wing, and heaved a desperation 3-pointer with the clock winding down. As it rimmed out, White ran to the rim for a putback off the glass as time expired.
"There really was nobody on me," he said. "When he shot it, I just tried to crash. [Then] the ball came to me, and I made a shot.”
As the stadium erupted at the apparent downfall of the Celtics, White ran down the court, throwing up the ever-popular "review that" sign with his right hand. The shot had been deemed too late, but after review, the entire sea of Miami fans left the arena disappointed — and scared — as the refs signaled that the basket was in time and good.
It was White's first NBA game winner — though he might argue with you on that — and it didn't just give the Celtics a win, but rather the series-evening victory that reset their playoff hopes and saved their season all at once.
Derrick White was suddenly a Celtic hero.
"That s*** was crazy," Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said of White's putback. "I'm still in disbelief ... that was incredible. We drew up a play, and they kind of took that away. I was trying to get the ball ... Smart came in and shot it, and we just crashed the glass. Everything was a blur after that.
"That felt like the longest 10 seconds ever after that, waiting to find out if he made it."
White did a little bit of everything for the Celtics, finishing the game with 11 points, six assists, four rebounds and three blocks. When he was on the court, Boston was plus-three, making the minutes he played extremely meaningful.
"If you didn't know who D-White was, you know who he is now," Smart said. "That dude has been phenomenal for us this whole year ... it's been refreshing for us, and a joy to watch him on the court."
The crown jewel of White's game was undoubtedly the game-winner, but the former Spurs guard was ecstatic at more than just that one play.
"I'm just happy we won," White said emotionally following his shot. "We had our backs against the wall ... but we were a resilient group. We pick each other up, fight for each other ... we got to find a way to get one more win."
As they head back home for the final game of the series, the Celtics will be looking to have their most complete game of the series on both ends of the court.
"We [need to] stick together," White said. "Keep getting good looks, moving the ball ... defensively I think we were really good, too ... we just need to be better for Game 7."
Defense told the story of the first three quarters for Boston. Through 36 minutes, Heat small forward Caleb Martin was Miami's leading scorer with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Normally, that would signal that Martin was hot and aiding both Miami stars — Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo — in a dominant Heat performance.
This time, however, Martin's 21 points were a byproduct of the Butler-Adebayo duo shooting just 5-30.
"A lot of things weren't going for us offensively," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "[I] do have to credit to Boston, they jammed us up. It looked like one point we were in the 80s."
Butler found his rhythm in the fourth, scoring 15 points to lead Miami back from down 10, including a late 3-pointer to go along with Duncan Robinson's pair. The late-game rally put the Celtics against the wall once more, especially after Butler's three clutch free throws gave the Heat a one-point lead.
Like Smart, that didn't dwindle the confidence of White or the Celtics, who drew up a play and when it didn't work, improvised together, as one.
"This is one of the best locker rooms I've ever been apart of," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. "It starts with them. They have a togetherness. They have a connectivity, and at the hardest times ... so credit to them."
The Celtics are just the fourth team in NBA history to battle back down 3-0, and a win would make them the first team to end up winning the series.
But doing so is a tall order, and one that Boston isn't taking lightly.
"When times are tough, it's easy to point fingers," White said. "But we [didn't]. We stuck together, and cared for each other. [Now], we got one more game to go."
Awaiting the Celtics next game is a desperate, motivated Miami Heat team who has proven time and again their ability to battle back on the court in any situation, especially with Jimmy Butler leading charge.
Luckily for Boston, it will get the benefit of home court to try and advance to the final round of the playoffs for the second year in a row.
But it will also have a player like Derrick White, who exemplifies the meaning of being a team player, which both he and the Celtics can pride themselves in.
"Faith, love, togetherness, physically, belief and hope," Mazzulla said. "[We have] all of those things combined. Those guys had a choice to make, and they chose to believe in each other."
White and the Celtics are set to take on the Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight at 7:30, with the winner of the series going on to face the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
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