A somewhat unlikely source extended the Celtics’ season Saturday night.
Boston was on the precipice of blowing a late double-digit lead over Miami in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, and it needed a hero to come through with three seconds left at Kaseya Center. The Celtics managed to secure a miracle win, but it wasn’t Jayson Tatum nor All-NBA running mate Jaylen Brown who got the visitors over the hump.
It was Derrick White, who successfully put back Marcus Smart’s missed 3-point attempt before the final buzzer sounded in South Beach. The game-winner forced a Game 7 back in Boston and gave the Celtics an opportunity to become the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series.
C’s players couldn’t believe what they saw when White beat the final horn, and it sounds like the same went for the guard’s father.
“Omg that’s my boy,” Richard White tweeted moments after his son hit the most important shot of his life to date.
The younger White had a subdued reaction to his heroics, explaining he was “just happy” the Celtics lived to see another day. Boston will try to keep its NBA championship dreams alive again Monday night when it hosts Jimmy Butler and company for a winner-take-all showdown.
