Derrick White erupts in second half, finds his rhythm against Mavs

Derrick White was back in his bag in the second half of the Celtics win over the Mavericks on Saturday night.

The elite two-way guard was on fire for a large chunk of the beginning of Boston’s season. He held a 3-point percentage of 41.8 percent (77 of 184) through his first 20 games of 2024. Recently, though, those numbers took a nosedive.

Twice in the last 10 games, White has only scored three points. His worst performance of the season came in a loss to the Sacramento Kings, where he posted three points on 1-8 shooting and 0-6 from 3-point range.

A close second came in Thursday’s loss to the Lakers. White again posted three points, but played less minutes and in turn had less volume to lower his percentages.

However, Boston stayed the course with him, and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla noted after Saturday night that he wanted to encourage White to keep firing through his slump.

“The way that we get him looks is just empower him. I think that’s the best way to get him looks is just empower him and make sure he’s aggressive,” Mazzulla told reporters. “It’s great to watch his teammates empower him too, because they know we need him.”

White responded emphatically, and something clicked for him on Saturday night. The guard finished with 23 points, 16 of which came in the third quarter alone. He didn’t exactly shoot lights out from beyond the arc (4 of 10), but made plenty of magic happen in the offensive zone.

White took the game by its horns and allowed Boston to build a lead of over 20 points during one stretch. Afterward, he had his teammates impressed.

“D. White is so good. Maybe he lost a little bit of rhythm, which can happen, but I think today we saw a couple threes that he hit was like, ‘oh yeah, that’s D. White’,” Kristaps Porzingis said postgame. “We’re a different beast when D. White gets going … he hits so many daggers for us, that just brings us to a different level.”

The Celtics were, indeed, a different beast at the beginning of the year with White firing on all cylinders. So, if he gets back into his rhythm for good, Boston will be all the better for it.