NBA Games don’t typically boil down to just one possession. But one possession can often tell the story of a game. This is "One Possession,” a recurring series where we highlight one notable sequence from every Celtics game during the 2026-27 season.

Derrick White wasn't even on your television screen when Baylor Scheierman went up with a fastbreak layup attempt early in the second quarter of Boston’s visit to Milwaukee on Sunday night.

White was just nearing the midcourt stripe when Scheierman lost control of the ball trying to go up as AJ Green defended. The ball bounced once on the floor near the blocks and seemed destined to trickle out of bounds. Instead, White covered 45 feet in the blink of an eye and launched himself over the end line.

Somehow, White managed to corral the ball, float long enough to drift past Milwaukee’s Kasparas Jakucionis outstretched arms, and zip a pass to a wide-open Paul George underneath the basket. George finished the layup as White floated into the first row of photographers.

If you needed confirmation that White has got his groove back, there it was.

White entered the new season with endless questions about whether his poor shooting last year was simply an outlier, or a more troubling trend for a guard who turned 32 this offseason. And while that shot defied him a bit out of the gates this year, the more bizarre aspect was that White wasn’t doing all the sort of White things that typically impact winning.

The blocks disappeared (just one swat in Boston’s first 7 games). The Celtics didn’t dominate his minutes the way they typically do (Boston was a minus-12 overall in White’s first 90 minutes of court time and he failed to be a positive in plus/minus in Boston’s first four games). White just couldn’t seem to get himself rolling.

Until the last three games.

White saw some shots drop — and blocked two shots on the other end — while Jayson Tatum rested in Boston’s first tilt against Milwaukee last week and it seemed to unlock him. The last three outings, White is averaging 17 points, 6.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks over 29.3 minutes per game. The Celtics are plus-38 in his court time in those games and have stacked three straight wins, albeit against two struggling Eastern Conference teams (Milwaukee and Charlotte).

White looked a lot more like himself on Sunday. He piled up four STOCKS (two steals, two blocks). He handed out a team-high seven assists leading to a game-high 19 assist points, including five 3-point makes by teammates.

White is averaging 8.1 potential assists per game this season. His 5.3 helpers have led to 13.5 assist points per game, which ranks 33rd in the NBA this season.

White is up to 2.4 steals per 100 possessions (86th percentile for his position). He’s drawing 1.2 offensive fouls drawn per 100 possessions (91st percentile). The blocks, his calling card from the guard position, are starting to pile up again.

The 3-point shot is stuck at the same 32.7 percent he shot last season. His overall field goal percentage is back up to career-average levels (43.9 percent, after plummeting to 39.4 percent last year). White has found his floater a bit in recent games.

But it’s White’s ability to create positive chaos that truly distinguishes him. He could have never made it across the center stripe as the Celtics broke out in transition on Sunday night. But his hustle — and his ability to levitate beyond the end line — delivered maybe his signature moment of the young 2026-27 season.