Getty Derrick White of the Boston Celtics.
After the Boston Celtics defeated the Miami Heat, thus forcing a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals, former NBA star and analyst Charles Barkley called out the Celtics for failing to put the Heat away earlier in crunchtime while talking with Jaylen Brown.
“I don’t understand. You said, ‘We’re up 10.’ You guys gotta win. Why do y’all relax…I mean, because y’all done it all playoffs long, and then you got in the hole, 0-3, by doing that. What is it about y’all just don’t say, ‘Let’s just kill these dudes and get it over with?'” Barkley asked, per NBA on TNT’s YouTube Channel.
In response, Brown said, “I guess we just like doing it the hard way. I’m not sure why we do it. It seems like when we get in those moments, we get a little bit apprehensive, and we kinda like it a little bit like we just don’t want to be the one that messes up, and it causes you to be the one that messes up. I feel like in those moments, we’ve just gotta grow, and in…this next game that we got, we just got to be better.”
The Celtics were up 98-88 with four minutes and 56 seconds left to go in the game, yet found themselves down one with three seconds left before White’s buzzer-beating putback layup.
Derrick White Reflects on Buzzer-Beater
During his postgame press conference, White explained the process of the Celtics’ final play that led to him hitting the layup before the buzzer.
“I was passing it in, (Gabe) Vincent was on me, and he was kinda up top denying (Jayson Tatum), so I couldn’t get him the ball. They did a good job of denying (Jaylen Brown) too, and (Marcus) Smart flashed, hit him, and there really was nobody on me, so I just based to the corner, and then when he shot it, just tried to crash, the ball came to me, and I made a shot. That’s what I saw,” White said per NBA.com.
When asked about his emotions with his game-winning shot, White said that he and the Celtics are all simply happy about the final result.
“We’re just happy we won. However we gotta get it done, we got it done, and now it’s onto Game 7,” White said.
Jayson Tatum’s Thoughts on Derrick White’s Game-Winner
During his postgame press conference, Jayson Tatum gave his thoughts on how everything went down leading up to White’s game-winning shot.
“That was incredible,” Tatum said, per Bleacher Report’s YouTube Channel. “We drew up a play. I was trying to get the ball. Jimmy (Butler) and (Max) Strus jumped out to me. Smart came in and shot it, and we just crashed the glass, and everything was a blur after that. D-White tipped it in, but that felt like the longest ten seconds ever waiting for confirmation if he made it or not.”
Tatum added that he still couldn’t believe what happened in the game’s final seconds.
“I’m still in disbelief. That s*** was crazy, but I’m glad we got another chance, another opportunity. It’s far from over. It’s still an uphill battle, but I feel good to give ourselves another chance, another opportunity.