CHICAGO — As Joe Mazzulla puts it, Derrick White holds similar value to Jrue Holiday. While both players are plenty talented, their contributions aren’t necessarily seen in the box score every night. But there are occasions when their impact is seen on an obvious level.
That was the case for White, who poured in 28 points, five assists and three blocks in Thursday’s blowout win over the Bulls. He was not just 9-for-14 from the field but also 5-for-10 from behind the 3-point line. White was seemingly everywhere in the first quarter on both ends of the court, including two blocks on the same possession — one on the Bulls’ Nikola Vucevic on an impressive play.
“He’s in that category with Jrue,” Mazzulla said of White. “They have a tendency to affect the game in ways that people might not see sometimes, but also it just goes under-looked. So their ability to make winning plays. … They just have an innate ability to affect the box score and the momentum of the game on both ends, and I thought the two of them did that to start the game.”
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White picked up right where he left off from before the break. While he’s not going to put up huge counting stats on a nightly basis — part of that is because of the Celtics’ talented roster — there’s no denying how important he is for the Celtics.
A significant part of the Celtics’ powers, too, comes from their strength in different options. It was White’s turn throughout the first quarter, but Jaylen Brown was also huge during the second. Then Jayson Tatum stepped up for large parts of the second half. That doesn’t even include Kristaps Porzingis, who’s been one of the major changes for the Celtics this season.
So in some ways, it was White’s turn Thursday as he got to make some loud contributions. But the next night, it could be different where White makes winning plays, but it doesn’t show up in the box score.
“That’s the fun thing about this team,” White said. “Most nights JT, JB and KP, they allow myself and anybody else the freedom that we got to go into what we need to do too. So having guys like that at the top and just allowing us to be aggressive and a fun team to play with.”
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