The Celtics needed someone to elevate their game Tuesday night at TD Garden, and Derrick White made the most of the opportunity.
Boston found itself shorthanded minutes into its matchup with the Atlanta Hawks, as Jaylen Brown went down early in the first quarter with a sprained ankle. Things started to spiral a bit for the C’s after Brown exited the contest, with Trae Young and company building their lead up to 17 points in the second frame.
But a dominant third-quarter co-piloted by White, who rattled off nine consecutive points during the frame, put Boston back in the driver’s seat. The Celtics took a 78-76 lead on a White floater with 2:49 left in the third and never looked back, ultimately notching a 107-98 victory to get back in the win column.
After the game, Boston head coach Ime Udoka credited White for his impact in the Celtics’ gutsy win.
“Offensively it felt like we were a little — I don’t know, shell-shocked with Jaylen going out,” Udoka told reporters, per Celtics.com. “We kind of had to figure out how we were going to attack it, and Derrick was a huge part of that.”
Udoka added: “Derrick was huge handling, scoring, distributing, defensively, all the way around. So it was huge to have a guy like him ready on a night when Jaylen goes out.”
White’s 18 points against the Hawks marked his biggest offensive output in a C’s uniform thus far. He’ll have a chance to set a new game-high Thursday night when Boston hosts the Memphis Grizzlies.
