Philadelphia -- The Boston Celtics need Derrick White. They need him to keep shooting despite his long-range struggles. They need him to continue making winning plays even when shots aren't falling. And they need him to be at his best if they are going to have a chance to cap a campaign spent defying external expectations with a Hollywood ending and another duckboat ride down Boylston Street.
For now, the ninth-year guard is trying to recapture a shooting rhythm that continues to betray him. He only converted on 32.7 percent of the threes he hoisted in the regular season. That's the second-lowest success rate of his career. The only time it dipped further was the campaign he split between the San Antonio Spurs and the franchise he has now called home for over four years.
In the playoffs, he is only tickling the twine on 20 percent of the 8.3 triples he's launching. The problem isn't the quality of looks he's getting, and not taking them would be worse for the offense. It's also not the path to breaking out of this slump.
"Just never lose confidence in yourself," said Jayson Tatum after Boston's 108-100 Game 3 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. "When he's open, we [are] gonna pass it to him, want him to be aggressive. Never turn down a shot, and, law of averages, he's gonna start knocking them down."
From family time to Solitaire and focusing on the mechanics that made White a knockdown shooter, he has a tried-and-true routine that he and the Celtics trust will get him back on track.
"Just try to focus on the things that I've done since I was a kid," said White after Friday's shootaround. "Just have the right people in my corner, and try to be aggressive, try to impact the game however the game tells you to impact it, and go out there and compete."
That mentality has allowed him to continue making winning plays while his shots aren't finding the mark. The prime example from Game 3 was his pair of crunch-time offensive rebounds. Twice, that led to crucial buckets that helped seal a victory that gave them a 2-1 series lead in this first-round rivalry clash.
The Celtics' support of Derrick White is unwavering
Before his contributions in the clutch, there was an errant lead pass to Jayson Tatum, a turnover that led to a VJ Edgecombe layup at the other end. There was also a baseline drive that ended with his attempt at the rim bouncing off the cylinder and out. And he struggled to guard Tyrese Maxey at times.
Yet White remained on the floor. There was never a thought of taking him out. He's too valuable, and he proved that by rewarding Joe Mazzulla's trust in him with plays like his impact on the offensive glass.
"Anybody ever doubts D. White, then they don't really care about winning," said Mazzulla matter-of-factly after the Celtics' Game 3 win. "There's a competitive confidence there, there's a character piece there. He's not defined just by shot-making. He did a tremendous job. Heading into Game 1, he defended like 54 pick-and-rolls, which is the most on the team, and he has to be able to do that for us to win. Those two rebounds were big-time rebounds, and he can impact winning in so many different ways. So, I'm always going to double-down on his competitive character [and] who he is."
White's teammates feel the exact same way. They've been through too many battles with him, including en route to a championship, and know better than anyone that an individual Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson referred to as a top-five player in the league is too impactful at both ends of the court to leave on the bench.
"I can say it 100 times, we need him, we need him, we need him," said Tatum after Boston regained control of this series with Philadelphia. "And it's tough, as a basketball player, we've all been through it, when you're not hitting shots at the rate that you expect to or want to," he continued. "But D. White is an unreal basketball player that still just has his imprint on the game."
The other half of the Celtics' star tandem also voiced his support for the other half of Boston's backcourt. He has spent the season seeing White channel his inner Taylor Swift, shaking off his shooting struggles to make one winning play after another.
"We trust Derrick in those moments, and he usually always delivers. So, as the playoffs get going, he's gonna find his shot, the water will find its level, but all the other stuff, defensively, what he's been doing on Maxey, chasing over all those screens, he's had some great second-contests and blocked shots, and then those rebounds at the end of the game, just winning plays."
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