3 biggest X-factors that will determine playoff fate for the Boston Celtics

When it comes to the upcoming NBA postseason, perhaps no team seems to be as much of a wildcard as the Boston Celtics.

By this, we mean that we feel the C’s could win the 2022 NBA Championship and raise banner No. 18 just as easily as they could find themselves being bounced in, say, the second round.

This year’s campaign has been a tale of two halves for the shamrocks, as they saw themselves submerged well below a .500 record for the first few months of action, only to then seemingly flip a switch by the time January rolled around that would have them go on a monstrous midseason run and, currently, has the team boasting an overall record of 45-28, good enough for the fourth seed out in the conference standings and just three wins behind the top-seeded Miami Heat.

Now, as the playoffs rapidly approach, the Celtics are, in fact, seen as a legitimate threat to take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy though, like we’ve alluded to already, this squad has the capability of either playing lights out or completely off.

In order for them to reach their full potential, however, everyone must find themselves playing at their best and, while it’s almost a guarantee that the likes Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Robert Williams III, and even Marcus Smart (up for debate, we know, but with how he’s played as of late he’s earned our trust) will bring their A-games, there are a few other key contributors that are much farther away from being sure-fire bets.

With this in mind, we at HH would like to discuss 3 players, in specific, that could prove to be the biggest X-factors when determining this year’s postseason fare for the Boston Celtics:

Boston Celtics player No. 1) Derrick White

Despite a few shortcomings during his first coupled of months in green and white threads, we still believe that veteran point guard, Derrick White, could wind up proving to be an absolute gem for the Boston Celtics come the postseason if he can work through some of his struggles and, to be more specific, improve upon his shot.

Acquired in a trade with the San Antonio Spurs at this year’s deadline, the combo guard was brought aboard to spearhead the charge off the pine as a much-needed sixth-man spark plug who could successfully run the one to give starter, Marcus Smart, some time to rest or to have come in and run alongside Smart for spurts of time and play at the two.

For the most part, the addition has proven to be rather successful, as he’s fit in quite nicely within the rotation as a natural facilitator and defensive contributor while also helping lift the bench from being the 15th best second unit in terms of NET Rating to the top-rated second unit during his tenure.

However, as we stated earlier, his shooting stroke has proven to be a major deterrent when it comes to him trying to reach his full potential with the C’s, as he’s averaging 10 points on just 38 percent shooting from the floor and an even worse 21.6 percent shooting from deep in 17 games played with the team.

During his lone season in college and throughout his five-year professional career we’ve seen White showcase that he can knock down his jumpers at a rather consistent rate, and we also find him currently converting on nearly 87 percent of his free-throw attempts this year. With this, all signs point to the fact that his shooting form is, indeed, fine.

All he needs to do now is, well, start making his shots.

Should he be able to tap into his 2019-20 through 2020-21 self (shot at a 35.5 percent clip from beyond the arc during this span), this Celtics team would without a doubt get a whole lot more menacing.

With how Derrick White’s been playing, Boston already seems to benefit overall. Can you imagine how scary this team would be if he started knocking down his 10 shot attempts and 4.4 3-point attempts at an improved clip?!

Just think about it.