In a game in which the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves combined for nearly 100 three-pointers, the strangest attempt of the night turned out to be perhaps the most important. Witness: Derrick White’s bench hit a three-pointer to give the Celtics an eight-point lead with 2:08 to play.

You can call the status of this shot a “dagger” considering how the Wolves fought back over the next two minutes, narrowly escaping a bricked pull-up from Anthony Edwards to force overtime. What is undeniable, however, is White’s influence over the course of this game. The bench shot was his second straight triple as he scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, helping bury the Wolves in another close game between the two franchises.

White finished the night with 26 points on 10 of 20 shooting, made five three-pointers, grabbed two rebounds, dished out two assists and hit two shots. It was perhaps his best individual performance since he scored 31 points in a loss to the Hawks in mid-November, as he dipped a bit in December, averaging 14.7 points on 41.3% shooting from the field.

The strong showing comes at an opportune time for White, who is looking to regain some momentum in the hunt for his first NBA All-Star selection. The first results of fan voting for the All-Star rosters were released today and White ranked 10th among Eastern Conference guards, just behind Washington’s Jordan Poole and Miami’s Tyler Herro.

The Eastern Conference backcourt race is as crowded as ever, and White feels like an outsider on the roster at this point. Stringing together a few more standout performances like this – and perhaps a few more timely bench shots – could help turn the momentum back in his favor.