Derrick White’s Stat Padding Antics Revealed As Coach Mazzulla & Kristaps Porzingis React to Rare Numbers

The Boston Celtics recently faced off against the Detroit Pistons. It was a clash between the top seeding team on the points table vs. the second last, and people didn’t have to think hard to predict who would emerge as the winner. Sure enough, the Celtics pulled off a great offensive play by leading in all quarters and eventually won by a score of 119-94. Kristaps Porzingis, who was returning to the court after a 5-game absence, found an ally during the game in shooting guard Derrick White, who assisted by making several shots from beyond the arc.

DW added an individual accomplishment to his name, as the game allowed him to mark his first-ever career triple-double through a score of 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. During the post-game press conference, several individuals from the Celtics fraternity chose to discuss White’s recent feat. Despite the praise he received from his fellow teammate and coach, Derrick White reportedly went out of his way to state that he was ‘stat padding’ a bit toward the end of the game.

‘Stat Padding’ is a term in basketball used to describe an action undertaken by a player to only improve his stats and not the team’s as a whole. When The Athletic journalist Jared Weiss approached the player to discuss the same, he replied, “It was weird. I didn’t like it and I didn’t play too good doing it.”

Weiss then proceeded to report Kristaps Porzingis didn’t choose to comment on whether White was ‘stat padding’ or not. Instead, he proceeded to send his flowers to his fellow teammate, by stating, “This guy, it’s hard not to love him. This guy.” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was also broached about his player.

Discussing his team’s play during the final moments of the game, Mazzulla replied, “It’s great for him, I’m happy for him. He’s continued to grow as a 2A player, on both sides of the ball.” What sort of story are the stats telling us?

How has Derrick White been performing during the ongoing NBA season?

Even though Derrick White may have been reportedly ‘stat-padding’ during the recent game, he has still been a big help to the Celtics during the ongoing NBA season. Out of the 63 games in which he has played this season, the 29-year-old has managed to accumulate an average score of 15.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists. This has placed him as the 4th highest-average scorer of the Celtics, right behind Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis.

When comparing his stats from last season, White has improved by 2.8 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists. His improvement, combined with the contribution of other star players, has placed the Celtics as one of the most dominating teams of the season.

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