Derrick White is the latest to join the pantheon of legendary members of the Boston Celtics to earn Player of the Week honors. Jordan Crawford, eat your heart out.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Boston Celtics guard Derrick White have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for Week 17 of the 2022-23 season (Feb. 6-12). pic.twitter.com/cZyf0DJfmW
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) February 13, 2023
Derrick White has replaced Marcus Smart in the starting lineup since the latter went down with an ankle injury that’s kept him sidelined for almost a month. In those games, Derrick White has scored in double figures every single time, and his current streak of multiple 3-pointers in each game (10 games) is the second-longest active streak behind just Stephen Curry.
Last week, Derrick White led the Celtics to a perfect 4-0 week despite missing Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Al Horford (all starters) at different points against really strong competition. Starting the week off with a warm up in Detroit, White posted 23 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. The third best record in the East – the Philadelphia 76ers – came into town pretty healthy and got whooped by Derrick White as he put up 19 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
The Charlotte Hornets came into town next just to get smacked in the face by, you guessed it, Derrick White and his career-best outing. White posted 33 points (with eight 3-pointers), 10 assists, and 3 blocks (the only player to ever do that . . . ever). Finally, Derrick White hosted his own Super Bowl party by sticking it to the second seed in the West – the Memphis Grizzlies – as he put up 23 points and another 10 assists.
Derrick White’s last 10 games for the Celtics (all starts in place of the injured Marcus Smart):
19.4 PPG
4.9 RPG
5.2 APG
1.1 BPG
51% FG%
47% 3P% on 6.6 3PA/game
87% FT%— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 13, 2023
Despite Jayson Tatum playing in all of these games (to varying shooting success at times), Derrick White was Boston’s best player, and his first-ever Player of the Week win is well-deserved.
I think it’s safe to say that the Celtics won that trade.
Boston’s hoping to have a healthier roster in tomorrow’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team with the longest active winning streak in the league (10 games). They play tomorrow before a game against Detroit on Wednesday to send the team into the All-Star break. Hopefully, they’ll be a lot healthier after the break with the return of Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown to get Derrick White some help.
