MIAMI — Derrick White dribbled along the left wing after a play broke down. He decided to turn and fire, and buried a leaning three with Duncan Robinson guarding him all the way out on the perimeter. Tyler Herro made it easy for him to find his sixth three one play later, firing a pass off White’s back into a turnover. White shot another on the run and made it. White dominated so much he admitted to taking rare heat checks.

“Just trying to be aggressive, but just read what the game is telling you,” White said. “Not force anything, just do what I need to do. I think I got a couple of good looks early, and then my team did a great job of finding me and empowering me to stay aggressive. A lot of credit goes to those guys … I think any person that gets a couple going in and you start making some tough ones, you feel like you can’t miss. That basket’s huge. It’s awesome. It’s a lot of fun. Just gotta try to move onto the next one, because I know it’s not gonna be easy. I’ve had great games in the past in the playoffs, and I didn’t really respond well. So I’m not trying to repeat that.”

White had combined for six points and seven shot attempts in the first two games in Boston before being able to get more involved in the Celtics building their 24-point first half advantage in Game 3. He closed the first two games by hitting four threes combined in the fourth quarters, but didn’t score a point in the fourth on Saturday in Miami.

His inconsistent usage seemed to reflect Boston’s overall up-and-down play on offense in the series, which continued into Monday’s Game 4 (41.9% FG). This time excluding White. The guard took advantage of every shot Miami gave him, inside and out, for arguably the most dominant start to a game in his career. He finished with 38 points on 15-for-26 shooting, a playoff career high as the Celtics held off Miami’s second half rally to win, 102-88.

More central on everyone’s mind after — a second quarter injury to Kristaps Porzingis, which began with an ankle turn chasing an offensive rebound, continued with a stumble as bodies converged in a screening action above the three point line and finished with him unable to move as the Celtics ran back on defense one play later.

Porzingis put both hands on his head and stumbled to the bench with play ongoing, he put his uniform over his face and exited to the locker room. Boston called it a calf sprain, while ESPN reported an achilles tear test on-site returned negative and would be followed up with imaging at home on Tuesday. He did not return to the bench and left the game in a walking boot.

Kristaps Porzingis heading out of the Kaseya Center with a walking boot on his right foot pic.twitter.com/lUCwjVOE3A

— Josue Pavón (@Joe_Sway) April 30, 2024

“It was tough to see,” Luke Kornet told CLNS Media after the game. “You kind of knew, obviously, the second it happened that he was hurt, which is tough, but I think everybody becomes aware, you’re ready to move on and do whatever it takes to win the game at hand … he’s an important part of what we do, but we’ve played throughout the year (without him), been down and figuring out a way to win is part of our identity … it was pretty quiet (at halftime) … Al (Horford) said something to both (me and Xavier Tillman) about being ready to play and getting a good warmup in so we’re ready to step in … stuff like that’s going to happen … it’s the process of working back, seeing where you’re comfortable, getting some treatment and putting some load (into the calf) … taking it a day at a time and doing what you can.”

Luke Kornet told me the #Celtics’ locker room was pretty quiet and focused after Porzingis’ injury on closing the game out.

Al Horford talked to him and Xavier Tillman, telling them to get a good warmup in and be ready to go pic.twitter.com/gVVBNDbMiK

— Bobby Manning (@RealBobManning) April 30, 2024

The Heat opened in a zone that initially held the Celtics to a 1-for-5 start from three. Jrue Holiday missed his first two, but White launched three from the wings, hitting all of them over the first seven minutes to build a 23-14 lead, also putting back Holiday’s second miss. Jaylen Brown attacked inside the arc, drawing four free throws over that stretch. Miami out-shot Boston early on three-point attempts, 8-7, starting 2-for-8 and hesitating to take several, leading to an awkward Bam Adebayo turnover. The zone didn’t work, White stepping into a layup and hitting a three over two defenders to score 13 points in seven minutes.

White poured it on out of timeout with a block on Herro guarding in front of the drop defense and a breakout three the other way that pushed the Celtics ahead by 15. Herro and Adebayo played their pick-and-roll to work within 10 by the end of the quarter, Delon Wright stepping in with a lob to Jaime Jaquez Jr. providing some offense while Miami started 2-for-9 from deep. Kevin Love, Duncan Robinson and Patty Mills made brief, unsuccessful cameos in the loss that pushed Miami to the brink.

They went on an 8-0 run by holding the Celtics to an 0-for-6 drought by turning up the ball pressure in the second. Haywood Highsmith got into Porzingis at the elbow and forced a miss late in the shot clock. Wright pressed Tatum full court and forced a turnover after blocking him on a previous drive. White, of course, solved that.

When a play broke down that sent Payton Pritchard, who shot 0-for-4, around a Brown screen, White caught a pitch back from Pritchard and dribbled away from the basket to the left wing, turned, pulled up and hit a three. He dribbled down the floor again after Herro turned the ball over and hit another, starting 6-for-7 from deep.

White missed to open the second half before Brown swooped in a put it back. Brown pulled up from deep on the following possession to build Boston’s lead to 22, but not without concern lingering among Celtics fans over Porzingis’ status from before the half. They initially announced him as doubtful to return with calf tightness.

Boston snuck out of the ensuing quarter, 28-23, clearly missing Porzingis’ screening as their threes waned, but lost the second half, 52-49. They went six straight possessions without scoring early before he set up a two pass play toward White for a standing dunk underneath the rim. White hit his seventh three late in the frame, reaching 31 points four minutes before it finished. Tatum, who shared frustration with the officials with his bench and Horford throughout the third, scored on a pair of free throw trips but closed the third 1-for-5, his last shot a forced jumper at the buzzer. Boston led by 22.

“I didn’t see what happened and I haven’t gotten an update yet,” Mazzulla said of Porzingis’ loss. “(But) nothing changes, bringing the same mindset, intentionality, toughness and details to the next game … all year, we’d have guys step in and play, so the most important thing is execute the game plan … that was the whole key throughout the season. Developing different ways to play on both ends of the floor. I thought the guys adjusted well to doing that. That’s something we’ve tried to focus on is regardless of who’s out there, we have different identities.”

Miami pulled as close as 16 to begin the fourth, navigating into the paint through Herro before Holiday hit his first three on his fourth try. Herro tried again to reach the rim, stumbling into the TNT camera beneath the rim when Horford stopped him and unable to get back on defense. Tatum found a clear lane this time, and unloaded a dunk over Caleb Martin to go back ahead by 20 points.

The quarter finished with fireworks and another ailment, Martin and Adebayo lead the Heat to within 13, then Adebayo contested under Tatum’s feet after the whistle, which drew Horford’s ire. The play finished after a lengthy review with Adebayo receiving a flagrant one, Horford a technical and Mills a foul for shoving White around the screening action to cause the dead ball. Tatum initially looked shaken up, grabbing his left ankle, before hitting both free throws to ice the game.

“You all saw it. I shot the ball afterward, I landed on his foot,” Tatum said. “Same ankle that I hurt in Game 7 last year, that I hurt against the Warriors, that I tweaked against the Clippers. It didn’t feel good at first … I don’t want to make it a bigger deal than what it is … moved on, kept playing … I was mad, because it’s the same ankle, but I’ve tweaked my ankle 1,000 times playing this game, so it was throbbing, but the adrenaline made it wear off I guess.”