Everything you need to know about the Celtics’ 109-89 win over the Magic at Little Caesar’s Arena on Saturday night
Box Score
HEADLINES
First half beatdown: The Celtics offense seemed to figure something out in Oklahoma City and that mojo carried over to Detroit right out of the gate. While it was an off night for the C’s primary options (Al Horford, Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum combined for 13 points), the defense was locked in for all 48 minutes. Blake Griffin was held to seven points while the Pistons shot a dismal 37 percent from the field and 7-of-37 from 3-point range, managing just 40 first-half points. Meanwhile, the C’s offense was free-flowing and well balanced with five players scoring in double figures, led by Jaylen Brown (team-high 19 points). Behind some strong 3-point shooting, the C’s jumped out to a 23-point first half lead and never looked back, cruising to an easy win after what was effectively 24 minutes of garbage time in the second half.
Bench unit shines: Austin Ainge believes the Celtics have the deepest team in the NBA and it’s easy to see why after Saturday’s performance. Even with Aron Baynes (sore hamstring) sidelined, the C’s bench was dominant during their stints in both halves, carving up the Pistons in nearly every facet of the game. Daniel Theis (17 points) played one of his best games as a Celtic, Marcus Morris (18 points) continued his hot shooting, while Marcus Smart (9 assists) and Terry Rozier (14 points, 7 rebounds) chipped in with terrific performances on both ends of the floor. Collectively, Boston’s bench outscored Detroit’s second unit 62-36 in the win.
Jaylen Brown gets back on track: After stumbling out of the gate in the regular season (30 percent shooting), the third-year guard showed shades of his 2017-18 self in the 20-point win. He scored a team-high 19 points in just 25 minutes, attacked the basket with success (team-high six free throws) and found his 3-point range for the first time in weeks (3-of-7 from deep). Between the scoring and a strong defensive outing against Griffin, this was one of the first times all year the starting five was running on all cylinders on both ends.
TURNING POINT.
Stevens elected to stick with his bench unit for the majority of the second quarter and they rewarded him with an 11-0 run midway through the frame that stretched the Celtics lead to 23 points. The Pistons got no closer than 16 points over the final 28 minutes of the contest.
TWO UP
Daniel Theis: It hasn’t been an easy transition back to NBA speed for the German center over the past couple weeks after missing several months following knee surgery last March. Theis has continually made progress though and he got a big opportunity on Saturday night with Baynes sidelined against a big Pistons front line and delivered his best performance of the year. Theis was red-hot in the first half, scoring 14 of his season-high 17 points before the break on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. He added seven rebounds but did leave the game in the third quarter with a heel injury. The team says they will update his status on Monday at their next practice.
Marcus Morris: The veteran forward continues to be a flamethrower from 3-point land this year. He went 3-of-6 from downtown in Motown on Saturday night on his way to a 18 point performance. That showing raised his 3-point shooting percentage to 48 percent on the season despite the fact he’s attempting over four shots from downtown per game.
TWO DOWN
Blake Griffin: The power forward came into tonight’s game as the league’s leading scorer and proceeded to come back to earth in a hurry against the NBA’s best defense. Despite having a significant size advantage over Boston’s defensive options at power forward (Brown/Hayward), Griffin had nothing going inside all night. Instead, he relied on lots of contested perimeter jumpers that failed to go down on his way to a 2-of-13 shooting night. After averaging 33.7 points per game, he managed a season-low eight against a C’s defense without Baynes.
Al Horford from 3-point range: No one on the roster deserves to be in this spot tonight so we will cop out with Horford’s lackluster 3-point shooting performance (0-of-5 from deep). I gave some consideration into putting Irving here but he has a strong all-around performance (7 rebounds, 5 assists) despite his season-low three points in 25 minutes. He didn’t force the action on a night the offense didn’t need him and he should be commended for that by Brad Stevens and his staff.
TOP PLAY
ROOOOOOOOOOOOK pic.twitter.com/1I4tHrVRXl
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 28, 2018