The Celtics didn’t show up with any defensive intensity on Wednesday night and the Pistons made them pay dearly for it. Four different visitors scored 20 points including a pair of rookies as Detroit ran away with a 116-103 victory over a Jayson Tatum-less C’s squad at the TD Garden.
Sekou Doumbouya had a team-high 24 points while Markieff Morris posted 23 points off the bench and Derrick Rose added 22 points for the Pistons who shot a scorching hot 60.5 percent from the field, the highest percentage allowed by the Celtics this season.
Gordon Hayward had a game-high 25 points while Jaylen Brown added 24 points but it wasn’t enough for a Celtics offense to keep pace with the Pistons firepower in the second half (outscored Boston 59-44). The biggest issue of the night was the defense as the starters failed to get stops all night long until the game was out of reach in the fourth quarter. Detroit was down three starters themselves but looked unstoppable against a disinterested C’s defense. Boston now heads to Milwaukee to try to take down the NBA's best team on the second half of a back-to-back.
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jaylen Brown
PF: Gordon Hayward
C: Daniel Theis
- Jayson Tatum will miss his first game of the season with a sore foot. He is expected to travel with the team to Milwaukee on the second half of the back-to-back Thursday night.
- Daniel Theis is back in the lineup after a one-game absence due to knee tendonitis.
- The Pistons are still without two starters in Blake Griffin and Reggie Jackson and have lost seven of their last nine games overall as trade rumors swirl around the team.
- Brad Stevens on the grind of the schedule in the midst of a busy stretch with games every other day: “There’s not a day to really take a deep breath. You’re always prepping for what’s next. Usually I stay ahead, try to stay ahead, anyway. So these are tough stretches but it’s part of it. Everybody goes through it. And we all manage accordingly. We signed up for 82 games of it and it’s just part of it.”