Point guard Derrick White will continue his quest to become an NBA All-Star when the Boston Celtics visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
White made 10 of his 13 field goal attempts and tossed in 28 points during Boston’s 144-119 victory over Sacramento on Wednesday. He matched his career high by scoring 30 points and had seven rebounds in Boston’s previous game, a 132-126 overtime loss to Golden State on Tuesday.
“I’m just trying to win games,” White said. “That’s all I’m focusing on right now. Just have to keep winning and see what happens.”
Through 24 games, White is averaging a career-high 16.5 points, 5.1 assists and 4.0 rebounds per contest. He has never made an NBA All-Star team.
“He’s an All-Star,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “(He’s playing with) freedom, confidence, and empowerment from his teammates. A lot of the times when we want to settle the team down and we want to get to really good execution, we go to Derrick White pick and rolls.
“His teammates are empowering him. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. And it’s one of the reasons why we feel so comfortable with him at the point, is because of what he can do.”
Jaylen Brown also scored 28 points in Wednesday’s win. The Celtics received 24 points from Kristaps Porzingis, 21 from Jrue Holiday and 20 from Payton Pritchard.
It was the fifth time in franchise history that all five Boston starters scored at least 20 points in a game, and the first time it happened since 1987 (Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish, Danny Ainge, Larry Bird and Kevin McHale).
Despite a 23-point performance from James Harden and 22 points from Paul George, the Clippers’ nine-game winning streak ended with Thursday night’s 134-115 loss at Oklahoma City. It was the Clippers’ first loss since Nov. 30.
The Clippers trailed 64-59 at halftime but were outscored 45-33 in the third quarter. Harden also finished with nine rebounds and six assists.
“(The loss) doesn’t take away from what we’ve built and what we’ve done,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “Had a tough start when James (Harden) and PJ (Tucker) got here, but just staying the course, putting in the work every single day and understanding it’s going to be hard.
“I give these guys credit. They’ve done that and so now we know a tough game coming into it (Saturday) and now we just got to be ready to start another streak. But I am proud of our guys for all we’ve been through and come back with a nine-game winning streak and the way we’ve been playing has been phenomenal.”
Injuries could play a factor in Saturday’s matchup. Boston was without leading scorer Jayson Tatum (ankle) for Wednesday’s win against Sacramento, and the Clippers didn’t have Kawhi Leonard (bruised hip) for Thursday’s loss to Oklahoma City.
Tatum, who is averaging 26.8 points per game, said he rolled his ankle in the first quarter of Wednesday’s loss to Golden State. Leonard was injured when he fell late in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s win against Dallas. Following the loss Lue said Leonard was “day to day.”
The Clippers have won their last six games at home.
–Field Level Media
