BOSTON — When Derrick White was traded to the Celtics at last season’s trade deadline, he was admittedly tentative. The guard experienced a difficult transition to his new team, being careful to not step on any toes on a championship-level squad.
What a difference a year makes.
White formed an important role on the Celtics in their NBA Finals run but struggled with consistency. But after a summer allowed him to breathe and reset, the guard has settled in and become one of the Celtics’ most valuable players this season. There was no greater example of that than on Friday night. On the one-year anniversary of his trade to Boston, White showed how far he’s come by erupting for a career-high 31 points on a career-best eight 3-pointers to fuel the Celtics’ 127-116 victory over the Hornets at TD Garden.
Jayson Tatum had a game-high 41 points and Mike Muscala had a terrific debut with 12 points on four 3-pointers in 16 minutes in the third consecutive win for the Celtics, who were without starters Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Al Horford. They hit 25 3-pointers and had little trouble with the lowly Hornets, especially after White’s brilliant first half.
White scored eight points in the first quarter, but turned up the heat in the second period. With Tatum taking a rest to begin the quarter and without Brown, who’s recovering from a facial fracture, the Celtics needed someone to take on the scoring responsibility. White embraced the opportunity, as he drained three consecutive 3-pointers to turn the Celtics’ six-point lead into a 14-point advantage.
White made his first eight shots of the game — which included six 3-pointers. It included several heat checks, with one finally resulting in a miss. But by halftime, White had 26 points on seven 3s, the latter already a career mark.
White’s shooting cooled off in the second half, but he evolved into a distributor. He produced three dimes in the span of a minute in the third quarter, including a perfect backdoor pass to Tatum for a dunk followed by an assist to Luke Kornet for a reverse slam that put the Celtics up 25.
The Celtics led by as many as 28 in the third quarter but left their foot off the gas, which allowed the Hornets to cut it to 10 in the fourth quarter and forced coach Joe Mazzulla to play Tatum — who logged 37 minutes — and his starters longer than he probably would have liked.
