NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 11, 2024

Derrick White

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. Talk about Kristaps, doing everything he can despite all these injuries he’d had to deal with. What's that say about his mentality?

DERRICK WHITE: Yeah, he's a great person, a great player, and he's doing everything he possibly can to help us win and help get back with us.

Q. Does that surprise you?

DERRICK WHITE: No, not at all. I mean, he's just a highly competitive person, and he's doing everything he can.

Q. How does he look to you mentally?

DERRICK WHITE: I wouldn't say his attitude has ever changed, even when he got hurt in Miami, he still was smiling in the locker room after that. His mindset, his attitude has always stayed the same.

Q. If he can't go tomorrow, how does that change things for you guys?

DERRICK WHITE: Just means someone is going to have to step up. We trust every single person on this team, and like you said, they've stepped up this whole postseason.

Q. How does that maybe impact the way you play, spacing and things like that?

DERRICK WHITE: Whoever we put out there, we understand they might not be what KP is, but they're going to do whatever it takes to help us win games. I have just as much trust in whoever we put out there as I do in KP.

Q. What have you guys done to take Kyrie out of his rhythm?

DERRICK WHITE: Just trying to make it difficult for him. He's obviously a great player, and just trying to make him take tough shots. We expect him to play better, so it's going to be more of a challenge for us.

Q. In the first half on Sunday you had very few threes as a team compared to the usual rate. Then in the second half you shot threes but they were really contested. When you know that that game is sort of a priority for Dallas, how do you make adjustments individually and as a group?

DERRICK WHITE: We're just trying to get a good look every time. We don't have a number we need to hit, but just go out there, making the right read, making the right pass, and just getting a good look every time down.

Q. You've been able to touch the paint a lot this series. How important is that?

DERRICK WHITE: Yeah, I mean, it's how we attack the basket, just get in the paint, crash the defense, try to make the right pass and the right read off of that. I would say that's been our offense the whole year.

Q. You're up 2-0 in the series and done a lot of things right. As you look through the video are there things that you see that you can do a whole lot better?

DERRICK WHITE: Yeah, every game you can learn from and just understand that it's going to get tougher each and every game. The things we did in Boston might not work this game, so just being able to make the adjustments that we need to and just trust that whatever adjustments they make, we've got an answer for it.

Q. Can you feed off this loud Dallas crowd that you're expecting tomorrow night?

DERRICK WHITE: Yeah, I'm sure it's going to be crazy in here. We've just got to stick together, and I'm sure we're going to have a lot of Boston fans, too. It'll be fun.

Q. That chase-down block towards the end of last game is something we saw in San Antonio early in your career. Why do you not give up on plays like that, and what goes into making those types of things happen?

DERRICK WHITE: Just sprinting back, trying to make a play. I don't really have a fear of getting dunked on, so that's kind of part of it. Then just trusting the instincts. Just trying to sprint back and trying to stop a basket any chance I can. I've just kind of been doing it for a while.