After being down at halftime, the Portland Trail Blazers battled all the way back to the point where the Boston Celtics were playing from behind in the final minutes of Sunday night’s contest. Boston was right there, largely thanks to Jaylen Brown’s 37 points, but three miscommunications between Derrick White and Brown sealed its fate.
With just a couple of minutes left in the game, White and Brown couldn’t find a rhythm. Brown was absolutely torching Portland, but White was just a little bit off on a few of his decisions in the final moments of the contest, and it ended up costing Boston a potential shot at victory.
White nailed a clutch three in transition in the final minute, but it wasn’t enough.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White had three miscommunications vs. Blazers
With 1:08 to go in the fourth quarter, the Celtics were down by one point. The score was 106-105. Brown had the ball at the top of the key, and All-Defensive forward Toumani Camara was guarding him.
White went up to the top of the key to screen for Brown in an attempt to get Shaedon Sharpe on him. Sharpe and Camara pressured the ball, got the steal, and Brown fouled him in transition.
As soon as the play finished, Brown screamed and waved his arm through the air. White held the screen a bit too long, which allowed the Blazers to get extra pressure on Brown. Brown wanted White to get out of the play quicker so he could have had a one-on-one situation.
Then, just five seconds of game time later, at the 1:03 mark, White was inbounding the ball to Brown. He found Brown, but the pass was a bit too far back, and the Celtics got called for a backcourt violation. Turnover.
White nailed a clutch three with 43 seconds to go, bringing the Celtics back to within one, but then, at the 20-second mark, with Boston down four, he turned the ball over again. It was a third miscommunication with Brown.
Brown made a great cut toward the basket, so White tried to lead him to the rim. But Brown wanted to go to the corner, so the ball tumbled away from the Celtics superstar. Blazers basketball.
It was an ugly finish to the game, to say the least. The Celtics just couldn’t get on the same page. White and Brown couldn’t get on the same page. Brown scored 37 points, but Boston couldn’t give him enough support to get the job done.