“Derrick White has been really bad from three since January 1. He’s under 31% from three now. He was 2-for-10 [in Game 2]. And the Sixers seemed totally fine with him shooting from three,” Simmons said.<\/p>\n
To take it even further, the 31-year-old shot 32.7% on 8.3 three-point attempts on the season, which is the second-worst mark of his career (he shot 31.2% on 4.9 attempts with the Celtics and San Antonio Spurs in 2021-22).<\/p>\n
With Jayson Tatum back and Jaylen Brown fresh off an MVP-level regular season campaign, it’s going to be tough for Philadelphia to stop the Celtics’ two-headed monster. But if it can make life difficult for the rest of the team, it may have a chance to win the series after all. Because, so far, it has worked out exactly as the team had hoped for.<\/p>\n
Is the 76ers’ strategy against Derrick White sustainable?<\/p>\n
It’s interesting because White has had a lot of fantastic looks in this series so far — he just hasn’t made many of them. Normally, this wouldn’t go well in the opposing team’s favor since he is likely going to keep getting good looks with the defense prioritizing containing Tatum and Brown. But as it stands, there are reasons to think it might work out for the 76ers the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
White has struggled from deep all season long. He’s normally a good shooter (he shot 36.9% from beyond the arc before this season), but this is a small enough sample size for Boston to be concerned. (Keep in mind that White took on a bigger role earlier in the season to make up for Tatum’s absence, and it’s possible that these adjustments have made it much more difficult for him to find his rhythm.)<\/p>\n
Regardless, until he starts making them, Philadelphia is going to let White shoot from three-point land. And at this rate, it could be enough to give the team a much-needed advantage in the series.<\/a><\/p>\n
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