The Celtics scored a ton of points early - 81 in the first half, thanks in no small part to a continuation of Monday's fourth quarter performance by Derrick White. After finding his shot in the fourth quarter Monday, White poured in 15 points in the first quarter against the Pacers and four more in the second. White was so good, he managed to spot the Celtics some minutes with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the bench.
But defense won the Celtics the game in the fourth quarter, and predictably, White was involved on that end as well. With less than a minute remaining, he made a heads-up decision to take the Celtics' foul-to-give, which allowed them to set up their defense and drew praise from Joe Mazzulla. "He's a genius player." Mazzulla said. "We've missed our foul-to-give call on the last three times we tried to use it, and credit to him for recognizing that and taking advantage of it. Genius play." Shortly afterward, White made a massive play with 30 seconds remaining to swat away a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the corner.
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