After three days off, the Boston Celtics returned to the court hosting the Detroit Pistons. Boston hadn’t played at home since the Los Angeles Lakers visited TD Garden on December 5th. In an evenly matched
game, both teams traded leads all night, however Boston let Detroit creep away with it late, the Pistons securing a big road win, 112-105.
Payton Pritchard was listed as questionable prior to tip-off with neck spasms, but he started alongside Jaylen Brown, Neemias Queta, Derrick White, and Jordan Walsh. The Eastern Conference-leading Pistons started Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren, Duncan Robinson, and Cade Cunningham.
Detroit came out strong to start the game with an early 7-3 lead in the contest before Payton Pritchard hit on three straight buckets (8 points) to get the Celtics going. Cunningham and Duren were combining well for the road team, but it was Boston whose shooting came out that was the early story, with three straight three-pointers to take an early 14-12 lead.
Jordan Walsh picked up two early fouls for Boston, and Hugo Gonzalez came into the game, picking up the tough Cade Cunningham defensive assignment. Cunningham immediately shot over the Boston rookie, hitting his second triple of the game. On the next possession, Cade drove the length of the court, feeding Harris for a layup and forcing Joe Mazzulla to call a timeout.
Anfernee Simons was subbed into the game and hit his first shot of the game, a tough floater side step with the shot clock winding down. Jaylen Brown drove through Cade Cunningham’s chest to convert on a three-point play. Brown was starting to cook, firstly finding space for a layup over Isaiah Stewart and a tough turnaround jumper at the nail over ‘Beef Stew.’ Boston’s 9 straight points gave them the lead back at 25-19.
Boston switched to a 2-1-2 zone midway through the quarter, and it was stymieing the Pistons’ offensive sets. Gonzalez missed his first corner triple but redeemed himself with another opportunity and converted on his first three points to give Boston the 28-19 lead, with Jaylen Brown actively lodging his third assist of the night. Baylor Scheierman saw late quarter minutes as Boston had a great quarter going into the break up, 33-25.
Jordan Walsh returned to start the second quarter and immediately stole the ball from Cunningham and went down the other end, converting on the three-point play. Sam Hauser tweaked his left ankle early in the second quarter as he came down on Neemias Queta’s foot on a rebound attempt. Sam went back to the locker room with the trainers.
Boston went small with Queta on the bench as the Pistons’ second unit hustled and scrapped to keep the road team in the game. Cunningham hit a step-back three-pointer over Minott as the Pistons got it back to within 2 points. A Jaden Ivey layup tied things at 41 apiece with seven minutes remaining in the half.
Cunningham had 13 points and 7 assists for Detroit in the first half, Jaylen Brown had 18 points and 5 assists, and Pritchard chipped in 12 points for the home team as fans of both teams witnessed an evenly contested first half. It remained close at the half with 10 lead changes through 24 minutes, Boston up by 4 at the half, 57-53.
The second half started at a frantic pace, with both teams running the floor and taking shots early in the shot clock. Derrick White converted on his first two shots in the second half, and Queta and Duren continued to physically battle on the interior.
Neemias Queta was trailing the offensive play at the 8-minute mark and dribbled past Duren to sky for a loud two-handed dunk as the home crowd went crazy, Boston up 66-58.
Cade Cunningham was shooting with confidence in the third; he hit on his fifth triple of the night as Boston’s lead once again evaporated. Isaiah Stewart and Jaylen Brown got tangled in a physical altercation on a free throw rebound; the Detroit power forward clipped Brown’s throat with his forearm, and Brown responded with a two-arm push. The replay was reviewed, and both players would be called for a technical foul at the 5-minute mark of the third.
Caris LeVert and Derrick White traded buckets as both teams took turns in the lead. Detroit was getting frustrated with the second-half whistles, as both teams were in the bonus with 3:45 to go in the half. Walsh picked up his fourth foul on a suspect foul call with Cunningham driving to the basket. Walsh had only played 8 and a half minutes in the game at that point.
Boston’s hot shooting first quarter had well and truly dried up, as the Celtics went just 1-18 from three in a second and third quarter stretch. Boston had no choice but to attack the paint, and Brown and Simons hit on consecutive paint attempts. The Pistons outscored Boston in the third to take an 85-81 lead into the fourth.
Detroit kept the pressure on Boston to start the fourth as they outscored the home team 8-4 to start the quarter. Simons scored on a driving layup past Ausar Thompson, and the Celtics got out in transition following a Duncan Robinson three-pointer attempt as Derrick White nailed a running pull-up triple with the Pistons retreating.
White drove from the 45 as Cunningham picked up his fifth foul, and the Celtics guard converted on a three-point play, trailing 93-96. With Cunningham forced to the bench in foul trouble, Caris LaVert and Javonte Green hit big back-to-back shots to extend the Pistons lead.
Jaylen Brown finally hit his first three of the game with four minutes to go in the game. Brown swatted away LaVert but was initially whistled for the foul before the Celtics were successful on a crucial coaching challenge. Derrick White’s huge three-pointer with 3 minutes to go cut the Detroit lead to just 4 as the TD Garden crowd came alive once more. White’s fade away jumper cut it back to 2 points with the game up for grabs.
Derrick White scored a season-high 31 points on the night however the Celtics couldn’t convert down the stretch, Jaylen Brown missed a pair of free throws and Pritchard air balled a wide open three-pointer. Brown had 34 points on the night, White 31 and Pritchard 12 points. Boston next play the Miami Heat at home on Friday 19th of December.
