Welcome Back, Derrick
For much of Monday night's game against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Celtics didn't look like themselves, and appeared on their way to a third-straight home loss. Much of the reason, frankly, was Derrick White's play. Because he is so beloved, and so high energy, it's hard to look at him as the problem, but it hasn't been the best month for D White. Fortunately, he got back in his bag just as it was looking most bleak, and the C's avoided dropping consecutive games once again.
Let's take a step back. Over his first 30 games of the season, White played like an All-Star. He averaged 17-4-5, with .494/.422/.892 shooting splits, and was a +10.3 on the court, one of the best marks in the league. He averaged more than one steal and one block per game. Derrick White was like Visa – he was everywhere you wanted to be. But the prior 12 games entering tonight were not as kind. Let's look at the splits:
There are a lot of scary dips in those numbers. He got to the line less, was distributing the ball less, and getting half as many steals. But the most alarming thing is that while he was taking the exact number of three pointers per game, he lost about 100 points off his shooting percentage. And the C's felt every single one of them. Obviously, it's bad that he wasn't getting buckets, but there's also a deflation when he misses them. They end up being such high rainbow shots that they just seem to be in the air for longer, and hence more of a gut punch when he misses. Them being in the air also often allows an opposing player to leak out and be ready to start a fast break. That is anecdotal, obviously, but the misses have felt like backbreakers. A return of old, average, not-to-be-trusted D White. Like the guy who shot .306 from three in his first stint with the C's in 2021-22, not the guy shot .380+ since.
It got really bad on Saturday, as he was 0-for-8 from the floor, and 0-for-4 from three-point land. He scored two points by way of the only two free throws he earned. Tonight seemed like it was going to be a continuation of that nadir. In the first half, he shot 1-for-7, including 1-for-5 from three. Several of the shots looked wrong right out of his hand. The third quarter wasn't any better. In 6:12 of game play, he missed his only shot – a three. He was a +7 for the quarter, and played good defense on CJ McCollum, but the offense just wasn't there. He then missed a three to start the fourth to bring him to 1-for-9 for the game. At that point, that was 1-for-17 over his last two games, and 9-for-41 over his past four. And then, boom.
After White missed that three to begin the quarter, the Pelicans beefed their lead back up to 11 points before Jayson Tatum put in five straight points to cut the lead to six. The Pels responded to go up eight right after, and the two teams traded four straight scoreless possessions. Coach Joe Mazzulla would call time out with 8:10 left when no one wanted to run off a potential fast-break-starting rebound. Shortly thereafter, D White hit consecutive baskets. The second was a three, and when he hit it, he raised his hands to the rafters, as if to say "finally."
After the Pels would take their final lead on a ridiculous (and ridiculously smooth) fadeaway from Brandon Ingram, White hit another three to give the C's the lead, and then him and Tatum combined to score the team's next eight points. The final shot was the dagger – a three that gave the C's their second six-point lead with 3:05 left. New Orleans wouldn't get closer than four points the rest of the way, and a big reason why was that 5-for-6 shooting (3-for-4 from three) performance from D White. He (13 points) and Tatum (14) combined for 27 of the team's 37 points in the fourth. More importantly, White's stroke on those threes looked like what we've grown accustomed to watching. Welcome back, Derrick!
Scary Hours for Philly
If you don't think the Philadelphia 76ers need more depth, I implore you to watch their Monday night game vs. Portland. Or if that sounds too painful, just look at the box score. With no Joel Embiid or Tyrese Maxey, there were numerous instances where the three-best players on the floor were Trailblazers – Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, and Malcolm Brogdon. Portland casually blew the doors off of the ragtag Philly squad (which was also again missing De'Anthony Melton).
Philly's starting lineup of Nicolas Batum, Tobias Harris, Paul Reed, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Patrick Beverley was a combined -93 for the game. Beverley in particular was bad, a -25. Harris is a solid starter, and Batum, Oubre, and Reed have their places in a rotation, but Beverley is borderline unplayable to me in an important situation. You never know when he's going to do something inexplicable, but you know it'll happen eventually. And he's the best of a bunch of other bad options. Danuel House Jr. put up a grand total of one shot in 15:46 of action. Furkan Korkmaz got off three shots in his 09:49 – he missed all of them. Marcus Morris was sort of solid. He went 3-for-7 from the field, and was just a -2, but he also turned the ball over three times in 21:43 of play. Again, against the Blazers, who are not exactly a defensive juggernaut.
The Sixers are now just percentage points ahead of the surging Knicks in fourth place and equally surging Cavaliers in fifth place. They had to sit Embiid out tonight in order to give the appearance that him ducking the Denver game was for legitimate reasons. But if Embiid and Maxey aren't back soon, the Sixers will need a trade, or have to accept the potential for a top seed slipping out of their reach.