Derrick White had the game of his life Thursday night, helping the Celtics extend their Eastern Conference finals series with the Heat in a runaway Game 5 win.
White picked the perfect time to get hot from beyond the arc, as the Colorado product made six of his eight 3-point attempts on the way to scoring 24 points in Boston’s decisive 110-97 win over Miami. The blowout win puts the Celtics within two wins of completing the historic comeback after falling behind 3-0 in the series.
The performance got White all kinds of praise and rightfully so. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was among those giving White his props. Smith tweeted about White early in the game as the Celtics guard was hitting from everywhere, but Smith did so with one of the more backhanded compliments you’ll ever see, seemingly taking a shot at White’s hairline in the process.
“Derrick White (who has a totally normal hairline) looking great early!” Smith tweeted.
There’s a bit of history here. After Smith scored 26 points in a Celtics win in their first-round series with Atlanta, Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley couldn’t help but notice that White and Smith have, well, similar hairstyles.
“Is that Derrick White or Stephen A.?” Barkley quipped on the TNT coverage. “Damn, Derrick. We love, you Stephen A. Stephen A. plays for the Celtics. Hey, he does ‘First Take’ in the morning then plays for the Celtics.”
Smith reacted the next day, calling White a “very good player” and “very, very good man,” but was quick to argue: “I don’t think my hairline looks like that. I think it looks a little better than that.”
That’s up for debate. You can’t argue, though, that the Celtics have a very real chance of completing this historic comeback, and White is a major reason why.
