The second playoff round is currently underway in the NBA. The Boston Celtics have once again put down an exclamation marker – also thanks to Derrick White. The title only goes to the Celtics
The fans in Boston have been waiting a long time. The Celtics last won the NBA title in 2008, their 17th and last to date. But it looks very much as if the wait could really be over this year. After an outstanding main season with 64 wins from 82 games, Boston is also looking very good in the postseason.
In the first playoff round, they beat Miami 4:1. The defeat at home came as a surprise, but the Celtics then impressively showed their strength twice away from home and made everything clear in front of their home crowd. Coach Joe Mazzulla’s team then had to wait a little longer, as Cleveland and Orlando played out the entire seven games.
The first game against the Cavs in their own arena was Boston’s next small statement, with a never-threatened 120:95 victory on the scoreboard at the end. As always, success is multi-layered, but one name has stood out somewhat in recent games: Derrick White.
The bald man with the beard has been on fire in recent games. 38 points, 25 points, 25 points: That’s the impressive tally from the past three encounters. He is only the fifth player in NBA history (after Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Jamals Murray and Damian Lillard) to sink at least 20 threes in three consecutive playoff games. “It feels good, I just want to help us win,” White said after the win against the Cavaliers.
Great praise from Brown
After a decent 15.2 points in the main round, the 29-year-old has raised his level extremely and has scored 22.8 points (career best) in the final round so far. As a result, White naturally takes the pressure off the star duo of Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum and makes the Celts, who are currently without the injured Kristaps Porzingis, even more unbreakable. “Derrick White has grown extremely,” praises teammate Brown. “That’s a version of him we haven’t seen before. He puts in a lot of work, his body has developed, he has a bit more experience in the playoffs. And he’s more aggressive – we’re pushing him to do that more and more.”
In short: there is currently a lot to be said for the Celtics.
With Tatum, the best player still has room for improvement. Brown is having an outstanding playoffs and is the team’s top scorer with 24.3 points. White is becoming more and more confident and has even scored more points than Tatum in the postseason so far. With the injured Porzingis, the Celtics also have a weapon up their sleeve. Jrue Holiday acts as a Swiss army knife and is an important factor both defensively and offensively. And then there are bench players like Payton Pritchard, who can score 16 points, as he did against the Cavs in game one.
The Celtics are the clear favorite for the Larry O’Brien Trophy with the bookmakers. After all the impressions from the regular season and playoffs, there is really only one conclusion to draw: Only the Celtics can beat the Celtics.
