Derrick White goes off, leads Celtics over Heat in Game 4 despite injury scares: 10 takeaways
Kristaps Porzingis hobbled off with a calf injury, but there were some encouraging signs after the game.
The Celtics won Game 4 against the Heat 102-88 despite multiple moments that may have left fans a little shaken.
Here are the takeaways.
1. The biggest moment of the game came in the second quarter when Kristaps Porzingis pulled up hobbling from a non-contact injury and immediately called for a substitution. Porzingis – who had turned his ankle just a few plays before – left the floor and went straight to the locker room with his jersey over his face (but under his own power).
After a terrifying moment for the Celtics, little tidbits of potentially encouraging news came trickling out. Porzingis was listed as “doubtful” to return rather than just “out,” and the injury was “calf tightness.” The team is reportedly cautiously optimistic that his Achilles is unaffected. Porzingis himself tweeted after the game that “DWhite is special!!!” (which White was, more on that in a moment) and he himself “will be good.”
That’s all very vague, of course, and certainly doesn’t mean that Porzingis will be back for Game 5. In fact, the Celtics might be better off if he took some time off either way. The Heat don’t really have the firepower to beat the Celtics even with Porzingis out (unless they go on another 3-point barrage, which we aren’t ready to rule out, of course). Closing the series and earning Porzingis some organic rest time could be important, rather than rushing him back. Calf injuries are no joke and can lead to worse.
In any case, here’s hoping the tea leaves are correct and Porzingis avoided catastrophe.
2. Jayson Tatum avoided catastrophe as well, with no thanks to Bam Adebayo. With 5:04 remaining in the fourth quarter, Tatum took a shot after a whistle, and Adebayo closed out to contest it. No problems there – the Celtics certainly aren’t in a position to complain about defending shots after the whistle – but Adebayo closed out recklessly and put his foot directly under Tatum, who turned his balky right ankle again.
Tatum stayed down for a minute and eventually got up to walk it off as the officials deliberated whether it should be a flagrant one foul. Ultimately, they decided it was, while Al Horford picked up a technical for knocking Adebayo out of the way on his way over to help his teammate.
“Same ankle that I hurt in Game 7 last year, that I hurt against the Warriors, that I tweaked against the Clippers,” Tatum said. “Didn’t feel good at first, but yeah, it was just that. I don’t want to make it a bigger deal than what it is.”
Was it a “dirty” play by Adebayo? Our two cents: Not exactly, but it was reckless and irresponsible. It was also the second time in this series that the Heat have done something that walks right up to the line of being dirty to Tatum after Caleb Martin undercut him in Game 1.
Again, the Celtics would do well to get themselves out of this series as quickly as possible. Fortunately for them, Adebayo threw them a lifeline: When he committed that flagrant, the Heat were rallying a bit and had trimmed the lead to 15, but Tatum made two free throws and the Celtics got the ball back. Not only was the play reckless, it was deeply ill-advised.
No wonder he was upset.
3. One more note before we get to the actual game: Stan Van Gundy went on an odd rant after Tatum’s near-injury, saying that Tatum brought this on himself by shooting the ball after the whistle. You can watch it here, if you want to hear someone make the case that the Celtics didn’t play hard and thus Adebayo should have gotten away with a flagrant foul.
4. We’ve spent far too long talking about Game 4 without mentioning Derrick White, so let’s rectify that here.
The reason the Celtics are in a position to close out the Heat is largely thanks to White, who scored 38 points on 15-for-26 shooting. He went off in the first half, knocking down six of his eight 3-pointers for the game, and he knifed through Heat defenders to score at the rim on multiple occasions.
White, who added four rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots to the stat sheet, had a big stretch in Game 3 as well, leading the Celtics to a huge second quarter that carried them the rest of the way.
A reporter asked White why he feels so empowered this year.
“It starts with Joe,” White said. “Ever since he took over, he’s just given me the most confidence. I can talk to him, he can talk to me. That relationship is getting better and better each day. It’s amazing to play for him, and I love it.”
5. White propped the struggling Celtics’ offense up a bit: Tatum (5-for-14) and Brown (7-for-18) were both inefficient and both Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser both went scoreless. The Celtics really needed a boost from somewhere. They might need one again next game as well.
6. How lucky are the Celtics that their sixth man is Al Horford? With Porzingis out, Horford stepped in and played 34 minutes, during which he was +15 – the second-highest total on the team.
Porzingis’s injury pulled in Luke Kornet for a few minutes to back up Horford. It also might lead to our first Xavier Tillman sighting of the postseason.
7. Jaylen Brown’s struggles to hang on to the ball against the Heat popped up again – he finished with six turnovers, three of which were live ball.
8. The Celtics might be hard-pressed to come up with a better dunk in the postseason than the one Tatum rained down on Caleb Martin’s head in the fourth quarter.
Martin looked upset that he wasn’t awarded a charge, but he wouldn’t have gotten one even if the officials blew their whistles – replays showed his feet were in the circle.
9. Lionel Messi, who plays for Inter Miami, was in attendance.
Credit where it’s due: Miami has now laid claim to one of the better celebrity cameos of the postseason so far.
10. Game 5 will take place back in Boston on Wednesday. It will tip off at 7:30 p.m.
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