Derrick White to the rescue. Game 4 of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat first-round matchup was defined by a big-time player making big-time plays. White’s 38 points propelled Boston past Miami and into a 3-1 series lead.
Unfortunately, the sweetness of the moment was marred by injuries to Kristaps Porzingis and Jayson Tatum, the former of which being the far bigger concern.
All that said, let’s take a look at what you might have missed in Game 4.
1. Timely buckets
The Heat made a run in the fourth quarter. They had the lead down to 15 with just under eight minutes to go in the game, but the Celtics locked in.
Two straight possessions, two straight instances of great offense.
First, there was the Jrue Holiday corner three that was a product of beautiful ball movement.
Then, there was Jayson Tatum’s monster slam over Caleb Martin.
Miami was on the brink of making it a game, and Boston shut them down.
2. Celtics are locked in
The Celtics traveled down to South Beach and won both games in Miami on the Heat’s home floor. And both were blowouts. That’s significant.
But Joe Mazzulla doesn’t care about that. He’s already ready for Game 5.
“Listen, this series is about toughness, [and] it’s about the next game,” Mazzulla said. “So, we did what we had to do, and now we got to go do it again. The team who is the most consistent in their mindset, their toughness, their physicality will win.
“And the challenge is, we have to do it again, and again, and again. It takes what it takes. So, that’s it.”
3. Bench loved Derrick White
White talked about it during his post-game press conference, but his description didn’t do the moment justice.
When White threw down a pair of monster dunks in the third quarter, the Celtics bench went nuts. Luke Kornet, Oshae Brissett, and everyone else on the pine jumped out of their seats and got amped up.
It was a very cool moment during a very cool night for White.
