The Boston Celtics had a slow start to the 2021-22 season, routinely blowing big leads and looking like they would possibly not even make the play-in tournament. The Celtics hit rock bottom on Jan. 6 when they choked away a massive lead against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden to drop to 18-21.
However, Boston has since completely flipped the season around. Ime Udoka's squad has gone 26-7 since that fateful night, with a nine-game winning streak mixed in there. The Celtics are currently winners of eight of their last nine games to get to 44-28 on the season, which is good for fourth in the Eastern Conference and just a half-game behind the second-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
Aside from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown's scoring prowess paired with an elite defense, a couple of rather unheralded role players have been responsible for helping them get back on track and will continue to play pivotal roles for the rest of their campaign as they aim to have a deep playoff run.
Boston Celtics X-Factors
Derrick White was a solid role player for the San Antonio Spurs ever since his sophomore campaign back in 2018-19. In the early stages of this season, he averaged 14.4 points, 5.6 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 49 games played as a full-time starter for Gregg Popovich.
His two-way ability caught the attention of a Celtics side that needed an upgrade. In dire need of a more proven option on the wing, Boston opted to trade for him in exchange for Josh Richardson and other assets, and it has paid off.
White's numbers have dipped since he arrived on his new team, as he is only tallying 9.5 points, 3.1 assists, and 3.2 rebounds in 16 games played thus far. Despite not being a starter anymore, though, he is producing timely contributions while fully embracing the new role he inherited as one of their spark plugs off the bench.
Yes, the 27-year-old still needs to develop better chemistry with his new teammates in order to fully play at the best of his capabilities. However, he has already made a valuable impact in just a short amount of time as the Celtics have gained better depth in their wing rotation. Players like White have been crucial for Boston to help them whenever Tatum or Brown head to the bench.
As of the moment, White still needs to step up his scoring on the field, especially from beyond the arc where he is only shooting at a meager 21.7% clip. If he manages to do it toward the end of the regular season, the Celtics' offense will be harder to stop and can do more damage upon entering the playoffs. But even if it doesn't improve, White still does so many other things to help Boston.
Coming off a solid rookie season in 2020-21, Payton Pritchard found himself buried on the far end of the bench in the first half of the 2021-22 season. He had to play behind Dennis Schroder but, unfortunately, the veteran point guard failed to make a good account of himself and didn't seem like a good fit within the team's system.
The front office then decided to ship Schroder and other players to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Daniel Theis, thus giving more opportunities for Pritchard to play a significant role for the team once again. The Oregon product has been making the most out of his minutes, leading him to regain his confidence on the floor.
Currently, Pritchard has been doing an impressive job from beyond the arc as he has improved his shooting to 41%, 15 games after the trade went down. In fact, he even set a new team record in their recent games against the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets for being the first Celtics player to drain at least four 3-point shots in consecutive games without a miss, per Yahoo Sports.
As of the moment, Pritchard's numbers continue to improve. He is averaging 5.5 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.7 rebounds in 13.2 minutes per game of action. These stats may not be eye-popping, but receiving timely contributions from him is just what the Celtics need in order to support the heavy production of both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown at this stage of the season.
Moving forward, Pritchard must continue to step up as White struggles in terms of his own 3-point shooting. If both of them can peak at the right time, the Celtics' offense will flow more smoothly and will see a significant improvement toward the tail-end of the regular season, which will only make Boston tougher to beat given the elite defensive unit.
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