(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
The Boston Celtics are a well-oiled and fine-tuned machine.
As such, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see them win the NBA championship.
If anything, they were the odds-on favorites to win before the start of the season, and that never changed throughout the course of the campaign.
Of course, that’s what happens when you have the likes of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis on your team.
However, they also had an unsung hero who came up huge on both ends of the floor over and over, particularly in the playoffs.
Following the win in Game 5, Derrick White tipped his hat to coach Joe Mazzulla.
The former San Antonio Spurs star claimed that Mazzulla changed his career by giving him confidence and believing in him from the start (Via Justin Turpin).
Derrick White on Joe Mazzulla:
“Man, I love Joe Mazzulla so much.”
Credits Mazzulla for “changing his career” by giving him the confidence pic.twitter.com/KoitrXmve1
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) June 18, 2024
For most of his career, White had been pretty much a catch-and-shoot kind of guy, a spot-up shooter who was out there on the floor mostly for defensive purposes.
White’s offensive role has been significantly bigger in Boston, up to the point where he literally had plays drawn for him and whatnot.
He’s been trusted to put the ball on the floor and take it to the rim, and he was one of the biggest factors leading to this success.
Despite not being a star, White is now rumored to be the front-runner to replace Kawhi Leonard in Team USA’s roster for the Olympics, and he has coach Mazzulla to thank for that.
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