The ultimate sport for Workforce USA in its Olympic journey noticed one other essential member of the Boston Celtics championship group not see the ground.
After Jayson Tatum was benched in a semifinal win over Serbia, it was Derrick White’s flip to log a DNP-CD when the US took down France, 98-87, on Saturday to win its fifth straight gold medal.
Steve Kerr’s choice to bench White benching definitely will not draw the identical outcry that Tatum’s did. Keep in mind, White wasn’t even on Workforce USA’s preliminary roster as he changed the injured Kawhi Leonard, a transfer which drummed up its personal controversial storm.
White does not have the identical stature as Tatum and even Jrue Vacation, however White was the one member of the Celtics trio on the Olympic group to seem within the 5 video games main as much as the gold medal bout in opposition to France — Vacation missed one sport attributable to damage.
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White had a front-row seat to greatness within the finale, although, as Steph Curry caught fireplace late by draining 4 straight 3-pointers to place the sport away.
The Celtics guard additionally watched his Boston teammates contribute to the win, however Vacation and Tatum certain did not play a number one function. Tatum was the primary participant off the bench for Workforce USA however did not make a serious affect, scoring simply two factors and grabbing three rebounds in 11 minutes. Vacation did slightly bit extra in 19 minutes by scoring six factors and doling out 4 assists.
The benching most likely will not hassle White, a team-first participant prepared to sacrifice for the higher good of the group. And it is going to be so much simpler for him to just accept what occurred with a gold medal hanging round his neck.