Whenever Doc Rivers gets the chance to talk about coaching the 2008 Celtics to a championship, he always takes the opportunity to bring up how much guys sacrificed to be part of that team. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and, especially, Ray Allen all gave up parts of their game to form a greater collective that ultimately won a championship.
That needs to be true of every team that wants to be great. This year’s Celtics want to follow in the ‘08 team’s footsteps to some degree by putting together a roster with so much talent that guys have to pare back what they're fully capable of in order to give the team what it needs to reach the ultimate goal. Sometimes, we can’t fully grasp just how much certain guys are actually sacrificing until we see them playing at full capacity.
Without Marcus Smart or Jaylen Brown, and with Joe Mazzulla determined to keep his bench rotations intact, Derrick White was pushed not only into the starting point guard role against the Pistons, but into one of the primary scoring roles as well.
“I feel like there was a stretch there where it kind of went through just like a lull of low energy, and I just wanted to come out, probably a couple of weeks now, just come out with energy,” White said after the win. “Make shots, miss shots, just have that right energy from beginning to the end, and really just playing better because of that.”
White’s energy helped carry the Celtics through a cold Jayson Tatum first half. His first two baskets came off of cuts, taking advantage of a poor Pistons defense to get to the basket. After the cuts came the jumpers, which he’s been able to hit with more regularity. And then came drives, attacking off closeouts and using a variety of spins and changes of speed to score and create 3-point play opportunities.
Pushed to take on more of the load, White showed the full range of his game. Not only did he score 23 points, he racked up seven assists to create 19 more Celtics points. That made him directly responsible for nearly 40% of Boston’s point total.
In a way, the timing of absences for Boston can actually be helpful. Giving a guy like White an even bigger role gives him no choice but to bring more energy to the table at a time when energy can be scarce.
“This is kind of like the toughest part of the season,” Tatum said. “It's cold outside, ready for a break. Some guys got vacation plans. But for us, you know, the goal is still to go to win a championship. … Historically, guys can take their foot off the gas leading up to the All-Star break because mentally, everybody needs a break. Just trying to stay as focused as we can until (then), that's important for us.”
This six-game stretch is critically important for the Celtics, so they can’t afford to have any hiccups against bad teams. This game in Detroit could have been a letdown ahead of Wednesday’s big national TV game against the Sixers. Between White and Sam Hauser, the Celtics were able to overcome their star’s early struggles. Then, once the Pistons dared someone else to beat them down the stretch, White stepped up and took that challenge.
With the Celtics up seven, White took a pass from Tatum out of a double team and calmly drilled a 3-pointer. Then, a minute later, he took a similar pass from Tatum in a similar spot and attacked for a killer layup.
“Somebody's gonna be open,” Tatum said. “Essentially, at that point, it’s four-on-three, so just go make a play … don’t be timid. Go make a play. And we just kept making the right plays, and guys knocked down shots.”
This win kept Boston ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks, winners of eight in a row. The Sixers are now three games behind ahead of Wednesday’s matchup. Both teams are making a hard charge toward Boston at the top.
The Celtics have given up some ground, but they still own the best record in the league. They’ll need to go on a run to hold onto that lead into the break, and to do that, they’ll need guys like White to show us just how much they're fully capable of, and how much they're sacrificing for the chance to go all the way.
