The Boston Celtics outlasted the Detroit Pistons 117-114, ending 13-game win streak on Wednesday.
Aside from Jaylen Brown, who led them to a win with 33 points and 10 rebounds, Derrick White stepped up, dropping 27 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, also helping stop Cade Cunningham’s 42-point game.
With Jayson Tatum’s absence, someone stepped up for the Celtics as they have been having a hard time figuring things out without one of the team’s leaders in the early season.
Meanwhile, the Boston head tactician Joe Mazzulla credited Derrick White, who filled the hole for bringing back their championship experience to beat the current first seed in the Eastern Conference.
“Whenever he’s not playing well, I kind of get excited because I know when he comes out of it, the other side of that is so much better. That’s just the trust that I have in him as a player, and that’ll never waver,” Mazzulla said.
Brown also commended White’s aggressiveness, which helped them seal the win in the last minute and served as his backup scorer for the entire clash.
“That’s the D-White that we know and love. When D-White is aggressive, that’s a great sign for our team … He absolutely balled tonight … Derrick was a star. He was a stud tonight, and I love to see it,” Brown said.
The head tactician noted that their early slump made them tougher as they are right now, believing that it would be the start of their momentum after beating the top seed.
“It’s funny, everyone looks at the trust coming from a successful night, but for me, the trust comes from the response to failure. When you take a look at all these guys tonight that have made winning plays, whether it was Jordan or Baylor or Amari or Josh or Hugo, the trust comes from when you mess up, how do you respond to it? And I trust them more when I see that than I do when it goes well for them,” Mazzulla added.
The Boston Celtics look forward to bringing back their winning momentum when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday.
