Popovich among many who texted Derrick White after Game 6 heroics

Derrick White was in the perfect place at the perfect time Saturday night to deliver one of the best buzzer-beaters in NBA playoff history.

Then the floodgates opened and the reactions poured in.

In an interview with NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin on Monday, White said he’s received a barrage of text messages and calls after his last-second put-back saved the Boston Celtics’ season and lifted them to a 104-103 victory over the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Forsberg: Behind the scenes of White’s season-saving buzzer-beater

While White didn’t even recognize many of the numbers that blew up his phone, he certainly recognized that of legendary San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.

“I got a lot of texts,” White told Chin. “A lot of people that I didn’t even know they had my number. A lot of people from a lot of different aspects of my basketball career: my high school coach, college coaches. Pop texted me, so it was a little bit of everybody.”

White began his NBA career in San Antonio and spent four-and-a-half seasons with Popovich, who recently spoke glowingly of his former guard when the Celtics and Spurs met earlier this year.

“Derrick’s a really special case of someone over time figuring out that he belongs,” Popovich said in late March. “… He’s a special young man.”

While the past 48 hours undoubtedly have been a whirlwind for White, he’s doing his best to stay focused on Monday’s Game 7, which will decide who advances to the NBA Finals to face the Denver Nuggets.

The 28-year-old said after Game 6 he was looking forward to going home and spending time with his one-year-old son, Hendrix — “I’m sure he won’t look at me any differently,” White said — and appears to have put Saturday night behind him.

“I haven’t seen it in 12 hours,” White said of his game-winning play. “So, I’m focused on Game 7.

” … Our back is still against the wall. It’s win or go home. It doesn’t matter what we did in these last three games if we don’t win tonight.”

NBC Sports Boston’s coverage of Game 7 begins at 7 p.m. ET on Monday night, with tip-off set for 8:30 p.m. ET at TD Garden.