The Boston Celtics defeated the Sacramento Kings 144-119, avenging their first loss to the Golden State Warriors. Following a franchise-record miss against the Warriors, the C’s shot 22-42 from three, topped by Derrick White’s six. White has hit at least six triples in two of his last three games.
Following the victory, White spoke with Abby Chin of NBC Sports Boston.
“We were just playing the right way, getting good looks and knocking them down,” White went on to say. “They play fast up and down, and we want to play fast as well, so.” It was a good time.”
With his two-way high-level play for Boston recently, the talk about White being the NBA’s most underrated player has rapidly transitioned to All-Star conversation. The evolution of the green guard over the last year or so has become one of the franchise’s most prominent stories.
“I’m just trying to win games,” White replied when asked if he was thinking about an All-Star selection. “That’s all I’m thinking about right now.” “Just got to keep winning and see what happens.”
Kristaps Porzingis made his presence felt in a big way in his return with a monster game that included 24 points, nine rebounds, six rejections, and three triples.
“I mean, he’s unreal,” remarked White of Porzingis. “Matchup nightmare, keeping the paint safe for us.” As a result, he does a little bit of everything for us. It’s always good to have him around.”
White understood the significance of the triumph, since the Celtics had let Tuesday’s game against Golden State slip away. With two of their top six players out due to ankle sprains and Al Horford’s rest, it would be difficult to compete with Sacramento’s offensive potency.
Boston wanted to keep their momentum going. Last year, around this time, the Celtics began to seem out of place on their west coast tour.
“Second night of a back-to-back, two guys out, people probably make excuses of why we don’t need a win, but we had the right mindset coming into the game and came out with the right way and got a good road win.”
The Celtics will have two days off before traveling to Los Angeles to face the Clippers on Saturday afternoon.