San Antonio Spurs: Derrick White is having a great start to the post-season
Despite not having a star-studded roster, the San Antonio Spurs are on the verge of a major upset in the playoffs and Derrick White is behind the madness
Heading into the 2018-19 NBA season, not many penciled the San Antonio Spurs into a playoff spot. In fact, most basketball pundits (including myself) expected the Spurs’ two-decade long playoff streak to end at the end of this season.
However, roughly a week into the 2019 NBA Playoffs, the Spurs are still playing meaningful basketball, and at a high level. San Antonio may only be the 7th seed in the Western Conference Playoffs, but are very much playing like the favorite against the Denver Nuggets.
After a huge Game 3 win, the Spurs hold a 2-1 series lead over the Nuggets, with a golden opportunity to all but put the series away in Game 4 at the AT&T Center.
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While DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge will gain most of the credit for the Spurs in the event that they advance past the Nuggets and into the Western Conference Semi-Finals, there is another player that is quickly emerging as a household name for San Antonio.
After a sensational Game 3, in which he scored a career-high 36 points, Derrick White is quickly becoming a mainstay in the Spurs’ lineup. Through the first three games against the Nuggets, White is averaging 23 points, four rebounds and three assists on a scorching 68 percent from the field.
In Game 3, he powered the Spurs to a huge victory in a key spot. After stealing home-court advantage in Game 1 against Denver, the Nuggets came up with a big second half performance in Game 2 to save its season while tying the series at one game apiece.
As the series shifted to San Antonio, it was imperative for the Spurs, if they wanted to continue to be a real threat to steal the series, to win back the momentum on their home floor. That’s exactly what they accomplished behind a career night from White in Game 3.
For White, though, this recent emergence really isn’t anything all that foreign. Throughout this season we’ve seen flashes of White’s potential. Specifically during the month of January, White averaged 15 points, four assists and four rebounds on 60 percent shooting from the field and 47 percent from 3-point range.
Even though he only had five games this season in which he scored over 20 points per game this season, White was quite efficient this season. In just his first real season of playing consistently for the Spurs – in large part due to an injury that cost Dejounte Murray, the team’s original starting point guard, his season – White shot a cool 48 percent on eight attempts per game. His outside shooting, while not ground-breaking, was still a solid 34 percent on just two attempts per contest.
His playoff outburst aside, there is a lot to like about the rise of White. He echos everything that Gregg Popovich and the Spurs stand for. Being the 27th overall pick from the 2017 NBA Draft, White was not expected to become a starter for the Spurs this quickly, or even at all, much less lead the team in scoring in a playoff game.
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Yet, as the Spurs approach Game 4 with a golden opportunity to grab a stranglehold of their first-round NBA Playoff series against the Nuggets, Derrick White is at the center of San Antonio’s sudden rise. Something that no one could’ve seen coming just a few weeks ago.