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Watch: Derrick White hits game-winner to send Celtics-Heat to a Game 7 — and his dad tweeted through it

By Katie McInerney Globe Staff,Updated May 28, 2023, 12:44 a.m.
Derrick White scored 11 points in Game 6.Megan Briggs/Getty

Celtics guard Derrick White was in the right place at the right time.

As Marcus Smart’s last-second shot bounced off the rim at the end of Game 6 of the Celtics-Heat playoff series Saturday, White hung near the corner of the backboard. With his fingertips, he tipped the ball into the hoop. Celtics 104, Heat 103.

Related: Instant analysis: With their Game 6 win thanks to Derrick White, the Celtics have a shot at NBA history

Boston will face the Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday in Boston, a winner-take-all finale that will be played thanks to White’s quick thinking in Game 6 at the Kayesa Center in Miami.

Watch the shot here:

White was modest about the moment.

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“Happy we won. Whatever it takes with our backs to the wall, happy we won,” White said in a postgame television interview.

”I’m just happy. We ain’t done yet,” he added.

There is probably no one happier, however, than Richard White — Derrick’s father.

Richard spent Game 6 sharing his thoughts on Twitter, and his reaction when his son hit the game-winner says it all.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was asked what was going through his mind when the shot went up.

“I had no idea,” he said.

When asked again, his answer didn’t change.

“Nothing. Game 7.”

Here are a few more angles of White’s shot, and the celebration that followed.


Read more about the Celtics’ win over the Heat

Katie McInerney can be reached at katie.mcinerney@globe.com. Follow her @k8tmac.

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