Celtics Close in on Round Two Behind Derrick White’s Career Night
Miami - First things first, the crowd was noticeably empty. I’m not sure whether it was the lack of belief in the Heat or if the usual crowd went to go watch the Florida Panthers at home. Since the 2023 NBA playoffs, the Heat have lost five straight home playoff games. The Celtics extended that streak to six after their 14-point victory in last night’s efforts. This was the Derrick White game that the Celtic supporters love to see. Game Five will be back in Boston on Wednesday, May 1st and the Celtics have the chance to win the series at home.
The Heat played energized and ready to go right out of the gate. After a disappointing Game Three, there was no chance the Heat would be able to win with that effort. Nikola Jovic continues to be the best player on the floor for the Heat, even if the box score doesn’t show it. Tyler Herro was doing his best to put his team on his back, but he just isn’t that type of player yet. Through 10 minutes of the first quarter, Jayson Tatum was held scoreless for the Celtics while every other starter was able to score. Derrick White, scoring eight points in 58 seconds, picked up the slack as he scored 16 first-quarter points. This quick scoring burst set a new career playoff high for White. After another dominant first quarter, Boston led 34-24.
All series, the Celtics have dominated the second quarter. Through the first three games, they have a +27-point differential in the second quarter. Tatum continued to struggle through the opening moments of the quarter, picking up his second foul which forced him to spend some time on the bench. In the home of the Heat, White was on a heater of his own. He could not be stopped on the offensive end and was a defensive menace on the other end. Kristaps Porzingis left the game due to an injury as it looked like he tweaked his previous calf injury. The Heat generated a small amount of momentum as the quarter came to a close, but still trailed 53-36. With only scoring 12 points in the second quarter, the Heat had a lot of ground still to close.
Coming back from halftime, it was announced that Porzingis was questionable to return with a lower leg injury. The veteran, Al Horford, stepped back into the starting lineup. This was the first time since Horford’s rookie season that he was not in the starting lineup for his team. Since Game Two, the Heat have not been able to score against this tough Celtics defense. Through three quarters, the Heat players combined to shoot 6/25 (24%) from three, an embarrassing statistic. Bam Adebayo was the only member of the squad to give their full effort, at least in my opinion. He added another double-double to his name by the time the third quarter was over. While they were struggling, Derrick White continued to play exceptionally well. In back-to-back possessions, he had two highlight-reel dunks. Still down by double-digits, the Heat had a long way to go for any chance of a comeback.
In the first minutes of the final quarter, Jayson Tatum might have had the dunk of the playoffs. The frontrunner for MVP put Caleb Martin on his butt by dunking over the top of him. At this point, it seemed like it was all but over. The Heat managed to put together a couple of possessions to cut the lead to 13 with 5:21 left in the fourth. Bam Adebayo had apparently had enough of Tatum in this series as he purposely tried to injure him on a dead-ball play. Tatum was shooting a three-pointer immediately after a whistle was blown and Adebayo stepped underneath Tatum which forced him to turn his ankle. This was an extremely dirty play by Adebayo, and he received a Flagrant One foul for his actions. Even with Tatum having a sub-par performance, the Celtics managed to win by 14, 102-88. Derrick White finished with a game and playoff career high in points with 38.
