Jaylen Brown’s impressive streak of 30-point games is over, but teammate Derrick White is overshadowing him as the Boston Celtics enter Thursday night’s road game against the Sacramento Kings.
White had a career-best seven blocked shots to go with 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists during Tuesday’s 129-119 road victory over the Utah Jazz. The rejections match the most by a guard in NBA history, with current Kings coach Doug Christie being among those on the list.
“Just trying to help us win anyway I can,” White said. “This was kind of a crazy one.”
White’s previous high was six blocks in 2019 as a member of the San Antonio Spurs.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said the defensive game plan set up the 6-foot-4 White for the opportunity to post a good number of blocked shots.
“He has to guard the other team’s best players,” Mazzulla said. “So we got a couple on pick-and-rolls, on pull-up threes at the beginning of the game when he’s kind of roaming, and on guys that we could shift off of. He does a good job of coming in and knowing when to help and when not to. So just his defensive versatility.”
The outing finished up a stellar month in which White averaged 22.3 points, 5.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He also knocked down 50 3-pointers.
Brown, of course, had the best month among the Celtics with averages of 31.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists.
He scored 30 or more in nine straight games to tie the franchise record held by the legendary Larry Bird (1985). However, his attempt to break the record fell short as he finished with 23 points, 10 assists and six rebounds against the Jazz.
Boston is looking for its sixth win in seven games when it faces Sacramento.
The Kings are experiencing a dismal campaign and have dropped 12 of their past 15 games after getting routed twice during a trip to Los Angeles this week.
The Lakers blew past Sacramento 125-101 on Sunday and the Clippers whipped the Kings 131-90 on Tuesday night. The 41-point loss against the Clippers matches Sacramento’s worst margin of defeat this season.
The Kings trailed 73-40 at halftime, so coach Christie took a long look at first-round pick Nique Clifford and continued developing second-rounder Maxime Raynaud in the second half.
Clifford scored a season-high 18 points in 29 minutes for his fifth double-digit scoring output of the month. The former Colorado State star is averaging 5.8 points in 18.8 minutes per game.
Raynaud has been making an impact with Domantas Sabonis (left knee) sidelined. He had 12 points and 12 rebounds against the Clippers for his sixth double-double of the month. The Stanford product is averaging 10.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 25 games (11 starts).
The promise of the duo makes it easier to live with the growing pains.
“We have to live with some of those mistakes from Max and Nique,” Christie said after Tuesday’s loss. “But I will tell you that they’re not coming from a bad place. Those kids are just trying, they’re figuring it out, and that’s everything that we can ask for from them.
“And they continue to improve. The bumps and bruises they’re going to (get) along the way are part of what you have to go through in this league to figure it out — and they will. I mean, I’m not worried about that.”
Christie’s seven-block game occurred in 2000 when he was a member of the Toronto Raptors.
The Kings and Celtics split two games last season, but Boston has prevailed in seven of the past eight matchups.
