Analyst pushes for bigger role in offense for Boston Celtics' forgotten near-star

MassLive's Brian Robb believes Derrick White is being underutilized in the Boston Celtics' offense thus far in the C's Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series against the No. 8 seeded Miami Heat -- and in his latest Celtics Mailbag, Robb called for an expanded role for No. 9 in Game 3 and beyond.

"He was pushed to the backburner as a 5th option with just eight shot attempts in 36 minutes and it didn’t feel like he had a chance to initiate much," Robb prefaced before saying, "Boston’s offense is at its best with a chaos element mixed in with good ball movement and White is a critical part of that most nights. With Holiday struggling around the rim, White should be the more featured part of the backcourt moving forward within the offense."

White took the fewest number of shots of any Boston starter in Game 2 and the second-fewest in Game 1. With that said, he's the only Celtic who shot better than 50% from the field in both contests.

He has the hot hand, but Joe Mazzulla is not choosing to ride it.

Jrue Holiday should be utilized as catch-and-shoot 3-point specialist with Derrick White initiating Boston Celtics offense

The nature of postseason basketball dictates that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are often running the offense, but both can be guilty of playing hero ball and ignoring teammates at times; whereas White is more of a classic distributor, even if point guard wasn't his natural position coming out of Colorado.

Having Holiday shift into an off-ball role should help preserve the 33-year-old's body for the later rounds of the postseason while also taking advantage of his 60% conversion rate on corner 3-point shots. It will also keep Celtics fans from getting antsy about his four-year extension, set to kick in next season.

Mazzulla emphasizing White would be a strategic move that could catch Erik Spoelstra off guard and swing the momentum back to the Cs as they look to regain homecourt advantage in Miami.