A Beller, ‘The Shot’, Bill Russell – Derrick White’s Heroes For The Celtics Enter Boston Legend

MIAMI — Payton Pritchard let out a cry as he watched Blake Griffinphone’s, first watch playback.

“Oh my God, it’s so close!” Griffin exclaimed and then dashed across the room to White Derrickof the locker.

“Let me see,” said White, taking a close look at the replay of one of the pinnacle moments of his career for the first time, watching millions of people around the globe gawk at it.

Minutes earlier, White had carved his name into the annals of the NBA, in favor of his teammates Smart Marcusmiss to blow the whistle for the difference in 104-103 Boston Celtics‘game 6’ win via Heat Miami maybe even the Eastern Conference final with a score of 3-3.

It was the moment when he could finally have his own wall in the Hall of Fame. This is a mother circuit of the historical moment.

And it denied the Heat a trip to the Finals. Currently, of course.

White’s shot opened the door for the Celtics to become the first NBA team to come back from a 0-3 loss to win a series.

This is only the second time in tournament history that a buzzer-beater match with a team is about to be eliminated at this moment after the legendary Michael Jordan. “Shot” in 1989 to lift Chicago bulls via Cleveland Cavaliers in their first series.

With Boston’s win on Saturday night, the Celtics won their fifth knockout game in the past two seasons, not quite the iconic 10-0 record of Bill Russell in Game 7, but here is the historical document of Page 1 Celtics here.

“I think it’s short,” White said as he replayed the game, standing in front of his locker with teammates huddled around him.

“Thank God we challenged it,” Smart told him, noting that Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t use his challenge on Al-HorfordFoul Jimmy the butler made all the difference.

That foul by Horford seemed crushed; it resulted in three free throws and clocked in at 2.1 seconds. Butler made all three of them and it gave the Heat the lead. But the umpires won’t be able to add up 0.9 seconds unless Boston requests a review in accordance with tournament rules.

In the face of all the fuss in the dressing room, Mazzulla engaged them in a group chat after they returned from the ring. Points about not having won anything have been made.

Concentration must be kept. The heroism of Game 6 would diminish if there was disappointment in Game 7.

OK, but what about what they just went through? This is one of those dressing room moments that players yearn for, sometimes wait for years, and it never comes. But tonight in South Florida, these Celtics players enjoyed their moment.

White reviewed the playback on his phone and looked at the ground he had covered. He passes the ball into the net to Smart and then runs quickly down the touchline. When Smart launched it, White was 20 feet away, standing near the corner around the 3-point line.

By the time the ball went out, somehow, White had dashed into the box.

“That’s because he’s the fastest in the league,” teammate Williams level stated after seeing how the play unfolded. “And the prettiest. With the prettiest hair!”

Last comment — White has one of these The most commented hair situations in the NBA — drew a smile from White.

“I mean, standing in that corner doesn’t help,” White said later in the Celtics’ post-match press conference. “Whether he made it or not, so I just broke the glass and it came right to me.”

“I still can’t believe it. That’s crazy,” said Jayson Tatumwho scored 25 of his 31 points in the first half to create a chance for the Celtics with a 3-pointer shot that put them off (7 to 35 for 20%).

“It was like the longest 10 seconds ever waiting to confirm whether he made it,” Tatum said.

There are enough slices of time in the frantic final few minutes of the game to make a documentary about plays, moments and misses — and perhaps one day there will be a movie.

Just to recap:

– Butler had one of the best two minutes of his career, scoring 10 points to lead what was so close to an all-time comeback. When he made an absurd 3-pointer with 2:04 left, he made 3/19 shots for the game. He made another free throw and five all-important free throws, and all but Larry Bird Trophy for the MVP of the grand finals with his name engraved on it.

– The Celtics, the team with the worst 3-point shoot of the season, have been under attack for a long time. Frozen by the Heat and with Mazzulla refusing to call the timeout — an extremely accidental final decision since he used two important things in the last three seconds — they repeated the possessions terrible in what could be a horrible crash. Boston had a nine-hour lead with three minutes to play.

– Horford’s foul on Butler took an ironic twist last season, in Game 7 of the Eastern Finals, Horford raised his hand to defend Butler’s would-be winner in the same basket. . This time Butler played better than him, fouled but the result was the same.

— Thermal transition Max Strus could be blamed for not knocking White down on the whistle, but he helped Heat reject both Tatum and Brown Jaylenthe first two picks in the match, to press the ball to Smart, who missed.

— Smart seems to have shot the ball too fast with three seconds left in the game. But in the last round against Philadelphia 76ers, he took a potential buzzer-beater to win, only to have it fall a split second late. He said, with that in mind, he dived in on the shot… and thus saved White’s time in the belt to make the backstroke.

— The fact that the referees added 0.9 seconds to the clock seems a bit generous, especially to Heat fans, although replays show Horford first coming into contact with Butler when he was exactly 3 second. But for conspiracy theorists, Butler may have violated in taking the space to do the scene, which will be one of the many interesting things in the last two-minute report.

After seeing all of that, Mazzulla was asked what ended up going on in his head.

“Game 7.”