Derrick White stood stoically at midcourt as his teammates celebrated on Monday night.
He saw Jayson Tatum toss the ball high into the air, Al Horford run toward the coaching staff and looking for his son long before Jaylen Brown hoisted the NBA Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player trophy. Even coach Joe Mazzulla shared the moment with his wife.
Meanwhile, White appeared ready to get back to work after making the tiebreaking three-pointer with 43 seconds left, giving the Boston Celtics a 105-102 victory and their second trip in three years to the NBA Finals with a 4-0 sweep over the Indiana Pacers.
Photo: AFP
“Great shot. We work on that all the time, two-on-one reads,” Brown said after scoring 29 points, grabbing six rebounds and blocking a key shot with 65 seconds left to preserve the lead. “Before that, I told D White just to stay ready and that was a big shot, a big shot to send us to the finals.”
White scored just 16 points and made just one of eight threes before making the decisive shot from the corner. Until then, he seemed to have taken a back seat to Brown, Tatum — who had 26 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists — Jrue Holiday and even the 37-year-old Horford.
However, when the Celtics needed a basket to chase the 18th NBA title in franchise history, the poised White delivered with a shot that would be remembered forever in Boston.
The Celtics are to face either the Dallas Mavericks or the Minnesota Timberwolves, who were yesterday to play their Game 4. The Mavericks have a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals.
“We feel confident, we feel comfortable in any type of game, and we feel we’ve got answers for anything at us,” White said. “We’ve just got to find the right ones.”
Boston’s victory came exactly one year after White’s tip-in rallied from the Celtics from a 3-0 deficit to tie the conference finals against the Miami Heat — only to lose Game 7 at home. This year, they have won seven straight playoff games, are 6-0 on the road and are 3-0 in elimination games.
It certainly was not easy against the Pacers, who were a perfect 6-0 on their home court before ending the season with two straight losses at a sold-out Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Indiana lost three times in the series despite holding leads or being tied in the final minute. It happened again on Monday as Boston pitched a shutout for the final three-and-a-half minutes.
Tempers flared briefly in the third when Pacers center Myles Turner knocked guard White to the ground. Brown, who was named the MVP of the series, grabbed Turner’s shoulder and Turner shoved Brown away. Turner was called for an offensive foul as he and Brown each drew technical fouls.
In another scary moment, Brown’s hand hit T.J. McConnell in the face, sending him crashing to the ground.
The refs ruled it was a common foul following a replay review, but the two frays did not change the back-and-forth tenor of the game — or the series — and the Pacers never backed down.
“They fought us hard to the wire. They have pride as a team. They didn’t want to give up,” a relieved Tatum said. “We missed bunnies all night. I knew we were due for one. That was a big-time shot.”
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
“Please love us. Please cheer us on. We have been working hard. Do not give up on us.” Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien’s heartfelt plea echoed across the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 tournament after a historic victory. Rather than boasting, Chen was making an earnest appeal after leading Taiwan to a 4-0 victory over Japan to claim their first major international baseball title at the senior level. Chen’s decisive three-run homer in the fifth inning and his Premier12 leading .632 batting average secured him the Premier12’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. He was also named one of the tournament’s outstanding defensive players
WELL-AGED: Although the youngest team in the tournament, Taiwan featured several veteran stars, including Sunday’s home-run hero Chen Chieh-hsien “I will never forget today,” veteran Taiwanese pitcher Chen Kuan-yu said after Taiwan on Sunday night blanked Japan to secure their first ever gold in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 championship. Chen, who at 34 is the oldest member on the team, said Taiwan “made every difficult step to come to today’s victory. I will never forget today.” Taiwan made history when they won their first gold medal of the Premier12 tournament, beating Japan in a 4-0 shutout victory in the final at the Tokyo Dome. It was a jaw-dropping victory for many baseball commentators who went into the game with
Nikola Jokic on Saturday scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to spark the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Lakers 127-102, continuing their dominance of the NBA rivalry, while Scotty Pippen Jr scored a career-best 30 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Chicago Bulls, 142-131. The Nuggets won for the 13th time in the past 14 contests against the Lakers, including ousting the Lakers in the playoffs the past two seasons. Serbian star Jokic failed to achieve his sixth consecutive triple-double, managing only eight assists, but his effort was plenty as Michael Porter Jr added 24 points and 11
RSS