BOSTON — The clock turned back more than 30 years throughout Monday night’s Celtics–Pistons clash.
Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart (not Thomas) made it clear what the plan was: go right after Boston, physically.
In the third quarter, with 5:01 remaining and standing next to Jaylen Brown while awaiting an Ausar Thompson free-throw attempt, Stewart wrestled with Brown for a rebound. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound forward exchanged forearms with Brown, and the two were issued double technical fouls just seconds later.
“We were just having fun,” Brown recalled after Boston’s 112-105 loss. “That’s it. I think Stewart is a nice guy.”
Brown looked back at Stewart with a balled fist, cleverly signaling a middle-finger-worthy “F-you” without the finger extension — and avoiding a likely NBA fine.
Moments later, Brown absorbed a hard foul from Detroit’s Caris LeVert, allowing Stewart to swat away Brown’s layup attempt. Though it wasn’t officially recorded as a block, Stewart used the moment to energize Detroit’s bench and antagonize the Boston crowd.
It wasn’t the Bad Boys versus the Celtics, but it was no less engaging from start to finish.
“Very physical game,” Brown admitted. “We rebounded, protected the paint, all those good things that were good signs that we were meeting the physicality. We gotta be better, I gotta be better.”
The Pistons attacked with the intent of making an example of the Celtics, a plan designed by head coach J.B. Bickerstaff — and the dividends spoke for themselves. Detroit’s bench outscored Boston’s reserves, 46–14, with Sam Hauser, Josh Minott, and Baylor Scheierman all going scoreless. The run-and-gun energy demonstrated by the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed was evident throughout. Every time the Celtics missed, Detroit sprinted the other way, either drawing a foul or scoring at will.
Rarely during Boston’s 48-point second half did the team signal a go-ahead rally on the horizon.
Brown even missed seven of 14 free-throw attempts, matching a career high he set two seasons ago.
The defensive attention that being the engine powering this season’s Celtics commands was exactly what Brown faced. Bickerstaff’s defense was aggressive, persistent, and pesky, yet Brown’s 34 points still weren’t enough to put Boston ahead. He recognized Detroit’s physically imposing scheme in real time, and while effective, it didn’t faze the four-time All-Star.
“It seemed like that, but I’m all for it,” Brown said. “Tonight, you could definitely see they were trying to foul hard. I just gotta protect myself from injury, but step up and knock down the free throw and get back on defense.”
In the second half, Brown posted a minus-11 rating. He scored 16 points over his final 20:49 minutes, shooting 5-for-12 from the field and a costly 5-for-11 from the free-throw line. When Brown stepped to the line as the Celtics cut Detroit’s lead to four in the final two minutes of regulation, he missed back-to-back attempts that would have made it to a two-point game. On the very next possession, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham drained a 3-pointer, instantly punishing Boston for failing to convert at the line.
Mistakes piled up, becoming the undoing of Boston’s bid for a second win over Detroit this season.
Boston missed 15 of their final 20 three-point attempts and committed five turnovers in the fourth quarter alone. Regardless of the scoreboard, it grew increasingly difficult for the crowd to hold out hope, given the pace at which Detroit was controlling the game.
The loss nudged the Celtics down to fourth in the conference at 15-11, but the team walked away encouraged by how they matched Detroit’s physical onslaught.
“I thought we answered the call,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They’re one of the bigger, more physical teams in the league, but I think we’re right there. Obviously, there are four or five possessions — some of their live-ball turnovers — but I liked our mental toughness. I liked our physical toughness throughout the game. What I think we can learn from this one is to continue to maintain those things and improve our execution on both ends of the floor.”
It played out like a first-round duel, and the Celtics detected it themselves.
“I thought tonight had a playoff-type feel to it, and games like this call for another level of physicality that we have to be able to get to,” Mazzulla said.
Back-to-back losses aren’t ideal, but they give the Celtics plenty to build on as they head into their three-day break — and beyond.
