Derrick White DELIVERS Defensive MASTERCLASS | Celtics BENCH has BIG night
Boston Celtics’ bench rescues shaky starters as Derrick White’s defensive brilliance seals a 129-119 win in Utah. Is it time for Joe Mazzulla to shake up the rotation again? John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal highlights key momentum shifts, breaking down White’s fourth-quarter heroics, seven-block performance, and the critical spark provided by Anfernee Simons and Luka Garza. Questions swirl around Jaylen Brown’s shot selection, the offense’s recent slippage, and a possible end to Jordan Walsh’s stint in the main rotation.
Key topics include rotations under Joe Mazzulla, early shooting woes from Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser, the strategic targeting of Jusuf Nurkić in pick-and-rolls, and Jaylen Brown’s streak coming to an end. Karalis analyzes how Derrick White’s rim protection is changing Boston’s defensive profile and asks what’s next as the Celtics prepare for matchups with the Sacramento Kings and LA Clippers.
1:00 Celtics vs. Jazz Recap
5:00 Bench Impact & Starters’ Struggles
11:00 Derrick White’s Defensive Masterclass
19:00 Jaylen Brown’s Streak & Playmaking
24:00 Individual Performances Breakdown
28:00 Rotation Change Candidates
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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.
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32 Comments
First
D. White should be all def this year at minimum, if not outright DPOY top 3. shame, no one really values defense because he also deserves to be an all-star reserve.
Hugo needs to start now over walsh. I think its about time to bench 1 of sam or baylor and try josh again.
Garza continues to impress in his mins. The slow start hurt us again and garza changed the tone of the game.
Simons has been good recently but he wont be needed in that 6th man scorer role once JT is back as JT or PP will take that role.
Good gritty win. Now lets get a win streak going again. Beat the kings! Dont take them lightly. Lets go celtics!
Is it 'doldrums' or is it that they're on West Road trip?? Shouldn't put toooo much emphasis on next two games even if they lose to Kings that's more result of long road trip imo🤷🏾♂️
Can we just sit White for the first half for the rest of the year? KIDDING.😂 Amazing performance by him and Brown hit some big shots to put the nail in Utah’s coffin. Simons came up big also and that little step back in the lane is becoming Pritch’s sig move . Garza just quietly keeps pounding away on the O glass and I absolutely love the energy he brings. My only downer is Sam. Is he worth keeping just in case of an injury? He’s lost his mojo.
Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve folks🎉
Thank you John for another year of great content/coverage.☘️🔒🐾
So you're saying the Celts played a "BTO" 2nd half…"Takin' Care of Business".
I think JAYLEN BROWN didn’t want to break the bird record, shout out to JB for the respect 🫡 he have for the legends
Thanks Celtics for my birthday gift onto Sacramento
WINNING!!!!!💚☘☘☘
In the first half, J was forcing up shots that he clearly should not have been taking.
Derrick White Defensive Player of the year,. Brown regular Season MVP🏆, Joe Mazzulla coach of the Year,. A. Simons 6th-man of the Year.. Tatum returning 2026 Playoffs better than he was before'🤔🏀💯🍀🏆💪🏾.
Jaylen had 17 and sits the 4th until 5 min left… Yea, somebody tried to keep atleast one of Birds records safe in Boston
Walsh has fallen off
☘️☘️👊
He’s a winner 🏆
So the Celtics finish December 9-3 and one lost at home contiuning to improve as time goes on
Celtics fans taking White for granted. Don’t appreciate his overall game and impact.
It was a little bit scary in the first half but the end result was good great job Derrick White 🍀🍀😎
Made it to this game and Keonta George is the real deal but couldn’t beat all of us Garza is nice I could see him being able to stretch the floor hitting threes at a solid clip
Walsh ain’t getting the mins
I am not a fan of Josh Minott i wish they could trade him away
Derrick tying with the Legendary Dennis Johnson with 7 blocks is 🔥
what your finally saying Jaylen brown should do LESS … or really what I've tried to say DO NOT FORCE it … I've used the Kobe analogy in different sports over time when Kobe was active n everyone knew he tried to do too much until he figured it out … in a TEAM game involve your teammates EARLY and make them feel involved, important and ALIVE … so they become truly engaged and do all those other things passionately (defense, extra effort on pressure D n diving for loose balls etc… and what ALWAYS happens in crunch time is those other players are feeling good but they also KNOW who the best player is and are dying to et him the ball so come 4th Q Kobe naturally takes over with a little passing/ deferring and also more teamates looking for their Kobe … that's Jaylen Brown needs to focus on and to be honest with all me distaste for his selfishness … this yr Brown has been alot better … just not fall back to feeling like he needs to dominate most possessions
The Jazz are subtly trying to give teams an edge in other words for them this whole season is preseason.
Note to Mazzulla "I stopped shooting threes" when Dwhite kept missing them and still scored 27 Meaningful points.
I'm in on keeping Simons
I’m trying to understand your breakdown of Derrick White. If you had said this a month ago, I could understand. Over the month of December he averaged 22.3 a game, up from 15.7 in November. He shot 44.9% and 38.2% from 3. Both are inline with his normal averages while taking more shots.
Can you explain what specifically your analysis?
Garza is starting to heat up in every way. Everything changes when his energy comes in the game. This guy is just getting started. He hasn’t even seen much time on the floor in the nba and he is only getting better every game
Its crazy there not even playing minott
Pritchard and white have been terrible in games they lose
Glad D-White still balling out but a concern is Jordan Walsh still struggling but in MVP Jaylen Brown we trust ✅👍🏻🍀
Joe throws everyone curve balls- the opposing teams, the media, and his own players. Definitely bet on an unexpected rotation change.
The Jordan Walsh thing is I think all about early foul trouble
It's all early foul trouble, and that's why he's been less aggressive, he needs to learn how to be as aggressive as he was and not get into foul trouble that's the only way he's going to be super effective