Joe Mazzulla has admitted that he probably erred in not playing Derrick White in crunch time during the Boston Celtics’ double-overtime loss against the New York Knicks on Sunday.
White has been an important player for the Celtics of late and was particularly impactful during the recent absences of Tatum and Brown, but in Sunday’s game against the Knicks he was overlooked with the game on the line. Having played nearly 30 minutes up until early in the third quarter, he was subbed out with nine minutes to go and would only return for one possession for the rest of the fourth quarter and the first overtime period – a possession which ended with him assisting on a Brown and-one.
White only returned to the court when Marcus Smart fouled out, which occurred with a little over three minutes to go in the second overtime period.
When asked about the decision to play a backcourt consisting of Smart and Grant Williams to White's exclusion during crunch time, Mazzulla acknowledged that “it was probably a coaching fault of mine.” He went on to reference the pressures associated with being a young head coach, in particular that mistakes tend to be highlighted more for inexperienced coaches than those with more experience.
The Boston Celtics are in a two-way tussle for the first seed in the Eastern Conference with the Milwaukee Bucks, meaning every result is pivotal with less than 20 games to go in the season. With three games separating them from the Philadelphia 76ers, however, the boys from Beantown are relatively locked into the top two for the time being. Joe Mazzulla might be regretting not giving White more minutes during the loss to the Knicks, but that there are guys of the quality of him and Malcolm Brogdon on the bench during these crunch moments is testament to the depth of the Boston roster.
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