1. Incredible Resilience by Boston
In a game where everything was stacked against the Celtics, they were able to take down the number one seeded Detroit Pistons on a 13 game winning streak without Neemias Queta. That is just an incredible
accomplishment for this group in easily their best win of the season. This is a game where you got contributions from everyone up and down the roster and for a young team like Boston without a lot of established pieces, that is a huge confidence builder. They held the Pistons to 40% shooting from the field and 31% shooting from three while themselves shooting 44% from the field and 46% from three. Just a great performance overall.
Jaylen Brown had a great quote about this win and this Celtics team in general in the postgame interviews: “Great win. Just shows that on any given night, we can play with anybody.”
2. Welcome Back, Derrick White
Sadly, I have to give credit to Kendrick Perkins on ESPN’s halftime show as he said Derrick White had to step up in the second half if the Celtics wanted to win this game after only scoring 2 points. I’m not sure if White heard that, but he locked in and finished with his best game of the season. White had 14 points in the 3rd quarter alone and another 11 in the 4th quarter to finish with a season-high 27 points on the night on 7-13 FG and 6-11 3PT along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block.
This is the type of shooting performance I think everyone in Celtics nation expected from White going into this season. He made some incredible clutch shots in the 4th quarter including a 31-foot moon ball to give Boston a 4-point lead with a minute to go.
His clutch contributions didn’t stop here as with 17.9 seconds to go and the Pistons coming out of a timeout, White made a heads up play as he poked the ball away from Cade Cunningham to give the Celtics the ball back. Without this play I’m not sure Boston has a chance to win this game.
I loved seeing this performance out of Derrick White and I hope this officially puts his shooting slump to bed and he can really start to turn up for the Celtics.
3. Another JB Masterclass
If you look at Jaylen Brown’s shooting line you might not be incredibly impressed with it (12-32 FG, 2-7 3PT), but just like almost every win the Celtics have had this season, they would not have won this game without his offensive performance. Brown finished with 33 points with 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, showcasing his entire skillset on both sides of the ball. He got on a hot streak in the 4th quarter and hit a huge and-1 layup to give Boston the lead with 1:37 to go.
Brown has become an incredible leader for this Celtics team as it felt like the entire team was playing with the aggressive mindset that he possessed. Mark Jones on the ESPN broadcast told a story about how Brown made it a priority to come to training camp early just to build chemistry and camaraderie with all of the new players on the roster. This is a microcosm of why Boston can still be successful with Brown at the helm and I am so thankful he is a Celtic.
4. Amari Williams is a NBA Player
With Neemias Queta being out with a left ankle sprain, the Celtics decided to activate the contract for Amari Williams so he could join the team in Boston for this game. This meant he was going to get thrown in the fire right away having to battle Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewert from the Pistons and overall, I think he was able to hold his own. Williams played 15 minutes off the bench that proved to be huge, finishing with 1 point, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. One of his blocks coming on Cade Cunningham in a similar way another Williams that wore a Celtics uniform used to look.
In no way am I saying Amari Williams is going to be the next Robert Williams right away, but I do think he showed that he is a legit NBA player. Now he is on a two-way with the Celtics but I think it would be in their best interest to keep him in Boston as much as he can for his development. He has shown some good tools in the G-League and could play a third center role similar to what Neemias Queta did in the last couple seasons. Whatever they end up doing with Williams, I do think it’s safe to say he deserves a chance to show what he can do in the absence of Queta.
5. Wingstop Trio: Gonzalez, Minott, and Walsh
I’m not sure if the nickname will stick but I would like to start calling the trio of Hugo Gonzalez, Josh Minott, and Jordan Walsh, Wingstop. They bring a young, chaotic energy to the Celtics wing position and are turning into some legit lockdown defenders.
Starting with Jordan Walsh who I think has cemented himself in the starting and closing lineups for this iteration of the Celtics. Walsh finished with 7 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals vs the Pistons and did a great job when it came to creating chaos. He was the primary defender on Cunningham on Detroit’s offensive possession with 17.9 seconds left to go in the game that ended with a turnover while playing at the small-ball center position. Not only that, he had another play early in the game on Cunningham where he stripped him leading to a Derrick White layup and made multiple great cuts to the basket on offense that led to easy dunks.
Josh Minott also had a great game finishing with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists while hitting two 3-pointers. Similar to Walsh, Minott also played a lot of small-ball five in this game and it led to some success on the defensive end as it slowed down Jalen Duren a little bit. Minott’s best play of the game came early in the second quarter as he hit an and-1 three pointer while Duren landed underneath him.
Finally, Hugo Gonzalez only played 7 minutes in this game but a lot of them came in the beginning of the 4th quarter where he played some really tough defense on the Pistons that kept the game close.
All three of these players have started games over the course of the season and all three of them have had varied levels of success, but one thing all three of them share is that when they step on the court, they are going to create chaos, and they are going to be important pieces in the Mazzulla Ball Machine.
6. Scheierman Showed Out
Baylor Scheierman is having a sneaky solid season so far in year two with the Celtics and this was maybe his most important performance of the season so far. With Brown and White struggling to shoot the ball early, Scheierman came up firing with confidence and kept the Celtics in the game with 13 points on 5-6 FG and 3-4 3PT at the half. This included some nice bag work as he was able to show a stop and pop midrange shot over the outstretched arms of Jalen Duren
With Walsh and Minott playing small-ball five, Scheierman ended up playing 30 minutes in total for the Celtics and even though he didn’t score again in the second half, he was still able to hold his own before fouling out late in the 4th quarter. Scheierman is really showing he deserves minutes with Boston and is taking advantage of his opportunities.
7. Survived the Paint Battle
Something that makes or breaks games for the Celtics this season is always going to be the rebounding battle and with no Queta, there was a sense of dread that Jalen Duren was going to grab a minimum of 40 rebounds on his own. That was slight hyperbole but overall Boston did enough to survive getting out-rebounded 56-44 and giving up 21 offensive rebounds. Detroit was also able to score at the basket at will, outscoring the Celtics 42-22 in points in the paint. The lack of a center for Boston was the main excuse and you can overlook this but it’s still something to be concerned about depending on how long Queta will be out.
8. Tank or Tatum?
This was an incredible win by the Celtics and it really makes a statement that says they might be a Jayson Tatum return away from being a legit team in the East again. However, then there are also games like the loss to Brooklyn that says, maybe a semi-tank isn’t so bad. This conundrum will continue to be debated amongst Celtics fans for the rest of the season but since it’s still early enough, I there’s a case that Tatum comes back and this team can make some noise in the playoffs.
On the NBC Sports Boston Pregame Show, in a question on who is the best team in the East, Brian Scalabrine said to Chris Forsberg, “We’re the best team in the east if [Jayson Tatum] comes back.” Forsberg responded with, “How early do you expect him to be Jayson Tatum?” and Scal responded with, “April 1st.”
This does bring up more questions to think about as if Tatum comes back around February and starts to look and feel comfortable again around April, is a playoff run out of the realm of possibility? Obviously we would have to see what the Celtics record is by the time Tatum could be back but I might agree with Scal, Boston could be the best team in the East with a healthy Jayson Tatum.
9. Cade Cunningham is a superstar
Even in the loss, Cade Cunningham put up a ridiculous stat-line vs the Celtics, scoring 42 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists on 12-26 FG, 4-9 3PTm and 14-16 FT. Cunningham really is the key to the Pistons success this season as he is having an MVP-level campaign so far. I knew he was great but watching torch the Celtics all night really reinforced to me that he is a superstar in this league. He can get to anywhere he wants whether its a three pointer from 30-feet, mid range jumper, or just bullying his way into the paint, he is a legit three-level scorer. However the thing that really impressed me was his defense. He finished with only 1 steal and 1 block but he made what felt like at least 5 pass deflections and he always seemed to be able to breakup any fast break the Celtics had. The Pistons haven’t had this level of a player in a long time and I’m happy to see the city of Detroit be a respected basketball city again.
10. Ball Don’t Lie
I spent my 9th takeaway applauding Cade Cunningham for his amazing performance and season overall so I feel its okay to talk about the insane foul call he got at the end of the game. With 6.3 seconds to go in the game, Anfernee Simons hit two free throws to give the Celtics a 115-112 lead. Cade Cunningham got the ball and started to make his way up the court off the inbound pass and Jordan Walsh fouled him on the floor with 4.4 seconds. However, Tony Brothers changed the call from the other side of the court to award Cunningham with a shooting foul and give the Pistons three free throws to potentially tie the game. It was a seemingly ridiculous call in real time but karma came for the Celtics as Cunningham missed the third free throw, Boston got the rebound, and the game was over.
This was maybe the most perfect example of an old saying that former Boston Celtic and Detroit Piston Rasheed Wallace coined long ago, “Ball Don’t Lie.” Jaylen Brown agreed with this sentiment as when he was asked postgame, he had the same three word phrase in response.
Boston’s next game is on Saturday November 29th at 5pm as they take a trip to Minnesota to face the Timberwolves.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
