Must Cs: Derrick White calls the game

In a game that saw the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves fire up just shy of 100 combined three-pointers, the most comical attempt of the night turned out to be perhaps the most important. Witness: Derrick White’s bank shot three-pointer to give the Celtics an eight-point lead with 2:08 left.

You could argue this shot’s status as a “dagger” given how the Wolves battled back in the ensuing two minutes to get within a bricked Anthony Edwards pull-up to force overtime. But what is indisputable is White’s influence down the stretch of this game. The knock was his second straight triple as he scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to help bury the Wolves in another close game between the two franchises.

For the night, White finished with 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting, made five threes, grabbed two rebounds, dished out two assists and hit two shots. It was perhaps his best individual performance since scoring 31 in mid-November in a loss to the Hawks, as he slumped somewhat in December, averaging 14.7 points on 41.3% shooting from the field.

The strong outing comes at an opportune time for White, who is looking to regain some momentum in pursuit of his first NBA All-Star selection. First returns from fan polls for the All-Star roster were released earlier today, and White was ranked 10th among Eastern Conference guards, just below Washington’s Jordan Poole and Miami’s Tyler Herro.

The Eastern Conference’s backcourt race is as crowded as ever, and White feels like a longshot for the roster at this point. Putting together a few more eye-popping performances like this — and maybe a few more timely bank shots — could help start to turn the momentum back in his favor.