A Rui Hachimura turnover sparked a transition opportunity for the Celtics.
Derrick White pushed the ball over midcourt before swinging it to Payton Pritchard on the right wing. With the Lakers messily trying to set their defense, Pritchard kicked it back to White, who caught the pass and confidently let an open three fly from the top of the key.
Swish.
On the next Celtics possession, the Celtics pushed the pace off an Austin Reaves missed shot. White dumped the ball off to Jaylen Brown, who hit Jake LaRavia with a stepback, sending him to the ground. Rui Hachimura, stationed at the nail, slid over to help LaRavia as he scrambled to his feet. Brown kicked to a wide-open Derrick White, who took one dribble and let another three fly without a defender in sight.
Swish.
That brief sequence perfectly encapsulated what has allowed Derrick White to turn his shooting around.
After starting the season shooting 85-of-244 (34.8%) from the field and 41-of-138 (29.7%) from three — shooting over 50% from the field only twice and over 40% from three just three times in his first 16 games — White has since gone 45-of-91 (49.5%) from the field and 24-of-57 (42.1%) from three, topping 50% from the field in four of his last five games and 40% from deep in four of his previous six.
The quality of looks he’s getting (and making) has been central to that surge.
“For him, it was that he got six catch-and-shoot shots per game last year, and shot 40%. At the beginning of the year, it was at 4.8 for 28.6% and so that’s it.” Joe Mazzulla said. “It was just the ability to just make a couple more catch-and-shoot shots. And once he was able to do that, you’re seeing the consistency that he has.”
According to NBA tracking, through the first 16 games of the season, White was getting 3.5 catch-and-shoot threes per game. He shot just 24.7% on those attempts. To Mazzulla’s point, he shot 6.0 per game across 76 games last season, knocking down 40.9%. Only he and Malik Beasley shot 40% or better on catch-and-shoot threes among players taking at least six attempts per game last season.
This season, White’s expanded role has forced him into more self-creation. Last season, 80.8% of his made threes were assisted. This year, that figure has dropped to 67.7%, the lowest since his rookie season. From 2018–19 through last season, that figure remained at 80% or higher each year.
However, as he and the Celtics have gotten more comfortable — and, of course, as more shots have fallen — his assisted rate has risen again. Over his last six games, 79.7% of his made threes have been assisted.
“He’s continuing the same effort and energy on both ends of the floor. And I think as we continue to evolve offensively and play with the level of pace and execute and work the reads that we have, he’s getting some catch-and-shoot shots,” Mazzulla said. “But the thing about him is, regardless of if he’s making shots or not, he plays with a level of energy, joy, and detail.”
The Celtics are starting to figure things out. They have now won four in a row (their longest streak of the season), six of their last seven, nine of 11, and 11 of 15. They are third in offensive rating on the season and third in the Eastern Conference in points per game over their last 15.
“When you have a bunch of guys figuring it out for the first time — of course, you all expected it to just sink right away – but we had five or six new players, like we were all figuring it out.” Jaylen Brown said. “I know you guys don’t care about that. But we’ve been getting better every single day, and it’s coming together a little bit now, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Perhaps nothing signals that progress more than White heating up.
“Everybody overanalyzes the beginning of the year so much. It’s just like we’re trying to figure out different roles. Everybody’s in a different role. It’s a different offense from the couple of years we played, and different, like, shots. We’re slowly starting to figure out,” Payton Pritchard said. “It’s funny, our offense is third, but I still feel like we have another step that we can go. So that’ll be exciting.”
After a season-high five threes against the Lakers, the Celtics are 5-2 when White hits 4+ threes, 8-1 when he scores 19+, and 7-0 when he shoots better than 45%.
When he’s rolling, the Celtics are all the more dangerous.
“Derrick is finding his stride as well,” Brown said. “When Derrick starts checking his pockets for threes, that’s a good sign for our team.”
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