Derrick White Turned Slump Into Much-Needed Fourth Quarter Vs. Pelicans

Boston Celtics guard Derrick White found the hot hand in a timely fashion during Monday night’s 118-112 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans to avoid a second straight loss at TD Garden.

Much like Boston’s opening quarter in Saturday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Celtics got off to a slow start, trailing the Pelicans, 36-25, heading into the second quarter. Boston connected on just 2-of-11 threes and struggled on the defensive side of the ball.

Gradually, the Celtics tightened up their loose screws as the game proceeded, turning a 17-point New Orleans lead into a win up for grabs in the fourth quarter. And White, who scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the final frame alone, pitched in at just the right moment, helping Boston improve to an NBA-best 36-11 this season.

“It shouldn’t be that tough because as I told him, ‘I support you, we got your back, we need you,’ so I don’t care,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “As long as you’re taking great shots and you’re playing on both ends of the floor, just be yourself and I think that’s important. I think the guys said it to him too.”

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The win not only served as a bounce back for the Celtics, but for White too. He shot just 1-of-8 in the first quarter, continuing a cold stretch that’s come into play in Boston’s 13 previous games.

January, in particular, hasn’t been the most efficient month in terms of scoring for one of the most efficient two-way guards in the league. The 29-year-old — before Monday night — shot 38.3% from the field and 35.2% from 3-point range, and didn’t pass up the opportunity to flip that momentum.

White finished with 17 points, shooting 6-of-14 with four assists, a steal and a block while limiting his turnover total to just one.

“Obviously, it’s been a little bit of a struggle,” White said postgame, per Bobby Krivitsky of Sports Illustrated. “Everybody was just telling me to stay confident, keep shooting. They were just trusting me and it’s good to reward that trust for my teammates and after that, I was just trying to keep making shots, stay in the moment, and help us any way I could.”

The early-game struggles were widespread among the Celtics, which allowed a No. 7 seed Pelicans roster to threaten Boston with what would’ve been its ugliest loss of the season.

“We can’t be defined by a result. If we’re only gonna feel good about ourselves when the balls going in then that’s a recipe for short-term success,” Mazzulla explained. “And I thought that was what the issue in the second quarter, but I thought we played great. So I would say that three quarters of basketball was kind of who we were.”