BSJ Game Report: Celtics 124, Pistons 118 - C's squander big lead, but finish strong to start 3-0

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Pistons, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

Jayson Tatum dominated the first quarter with 17 points and then Payton Pritchard took over in the second as the Celtics continued to rain hellfire from deep. Their lead got up to 23 before a Pistons run cut it to 11 at the half. They carried that into the third, getting hot and running off bad Celtics offense. The Celtics continued to look bad for a lot of the fourth quarter, but they turned it on with four minutes to go and turned a six-point deficit into a four-point lead and a tough win.

Box Score

HEADLINES

They had to work for it: I’m not mad at them having to fight to win a game. Sure, a lot of why they were in that position was their own fault, but it won’t always go perfectly and these are situations they’ll be in, somehow, a lot between now and mid-June. 

Offense leads to defense lead to offense … and so on: The Celtics were running great offense for most of the first half, building up a 23-point lead. And then they stopped making good rim reads, choosing instead to drive at all costs instead of driving and kicking. That flowed into some bad defense (the defense wasn’t great in general anyway) that Detroit exploited. 

Tatum dominant again: I think it’s ridiculous to talk about MVP stuff at this point of the season. That said, this is what Tatum needs to do to be considered for the award. He started strong, got cold, but then closed strong to shut the door. 

TURNING POINT

Jrue Holiday hit a 3-pointer at the 3:32 mark off a play that finally resembled the Celtics at their best, which started an 8-0 Celtics run that gave Boston a lead. They were tied once after that, but never trailed again. 

THINGS I LIKED

- The finish: At that point, didn’t matter how the Celtics got there. There were four minutes on the clock, the Celtics were down six, and the Pistons were full of confidence. Cry about losing the lead later, this moment called for execution and Boston got it together for four minutes of hard-nosed play that got the job done. 

- The first-half offense: At one point, Boston was 15-27 from 3 which is a ridiculous number but the offense was generating great looks. I will reiterate (I’ll do this a lot this season) that I don’t care about the number of 3-pointers anymore. If they're good shots, they're good shots. And I’d say 24 or 25 of those were good shots. 

- Jayson Tatum: 37 points, on 46% shooting overall and from 3. He also had four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a huge, timely-blocked shot. 

He did have that lull, but then he got going in the fourth, going into the post twice, getting fouled once and hitting another. 

I have been BEGGING for him to go into the post to close fourth quarters for years. When I say years, I mean YEARS. This tweet is from nearly five years ago: 

Maybe it took him entering his athletic prime to put it all together. Whatever it is, if we get this shot consistently out of him this season, then forget it. This is next-level stuff. 

- Jaylen Brown … mostly: The best way I can describe Jaylen’s night is when you order a salad at a restaurant without a couple of the annoying extras they throw in there but you get it with them anyway. It’s still good if you pick around it, but it feels pretty annoying and almost unsatisfying. You still leave feeling good about what you had, but you also feel like complaining about it the whole ride home. 

He was awesome in the first and then he got away from the right things in the second and shot a horrible 2-10. He was still doing other things at that point, but then he didn’t even do those in a bad third quarter. Then he was awesome in the fourth, making a critical and perfect rim read to lead to Jrue Holiday’s first of two huge 3-pointers, and grabbing a couple of big rebounds down the stretch. 

- Derrick White: His block on Cunningham was incredible (more on that later). He had three blocks on the night, and perhaps most impressively they came after he got dunked on by Cunningham. White has no fear. He finished with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, and those three blocks. 

- Payton Pritchard: A blistering shooting night, owning the second quarter and helping build that 23 point lead. He finished with 19 points on 5-7 shooting from 3. 

- Al Horford: The game changed when he reentered with four minutes to go. His presence on the floor opened things up for everyone. This was a tough call for Mazzulla because it brought Horford to 32 minutes on the night, a bit longer than anyone wants him to play right now. But without his ability to stretch the floor, a lot of those late chances Boston capitalized on might not have been there. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Getting away from what worked: I said what I had to say about this in my column after the win in Washington, but it’s another example of how departures from the proven formula get them into trouble. They made terrible reads and took shots that were no better than turnovers, giving Detroit chances to run and get confident. 

And let me give some credit to the Pistons here, because they were active participants in Boston’s struggles. Even when they were down 23, it was because Boston was blistering hot from 3. The Pistons were playing hard and making some shots along the way. Once Boston stopped executing and got cold, Detroit pounced. They deserve as much credit here as Boston gets blame. 

- Points in the paint: Boston was crushed in the paint again in this game. That's three straight games where teams have gotten inside and scored easily, 

Now, that could be partly defensive choice. Teams have to choose what they're going to live with, and Boston will gladly live with giving up 2-pointers as their offense generates a ton of good 3-pointers. 

At the same time, they can clean up a lot of those points in the paint. I’m not worried about the Celtics getting outscored in the paint. I expect that as Kristaps Porzingis misses time. Getting dominated in the paint can’t continue, though. They need to clean that up. 

HIGHLIGHTS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Joe Mazzulla can’t just go with eight guys this early in the season: I’m aware the goal is to win games here, but the Celtics can’t be running Tatum and Brown 38 minutes, White 39 minutes, and Horford 32 minutes in an October game against Detroit. 

Yes, it’s the players’ own fault for putting themselves in this position, but I’d rather take the loss than run these guys this long in this situation. 

I will counter my own point here by acknowledging that the two blowouts to start the season, where Tatum didn’t even play in either fourth quarter, perhaps allowed this one dalliance into deeper minutes. I get that through three games Tatum and Brown are still only averaging 33 minutes per game, so maybe this particular game is fine as a one-off. 

But the point here is that it needs to be a one-off. Two things can derail Boston’s run to a title: their brains and their bodies. I feel good about where their brains are, despite obvious mental lapses in each of the three wins. I would hate for their bodies to become an issue. 

It’s not a big deal now. I just don’t want to see it become an issue. Trust in the depth. 

And if Mazzulla doesn’t trust the depth, then that makes me question cutting Lonnie Walker IV even more. I know he can contribute in a game like this.

- The Tatum and White postgame press conference might be the best part of this season: I KNEW these guys were up to some shenanigans. 

As I wrote in Picks ‘n Pops, these guys are going to have to step their game up if they're going to follow in the tradition of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Tonight was a good first step. 

Let me start by showing you White’s reaction after his clutch block on Cade Cunningham. Warning, naughty lip reading ahead: 

I guess he could have been saying “I got that funky one,” which would be cool, but I doubt it. Anyway, we got this exchange out of it: 

White: He had dunked on me earlier in the game, so I felt like I had to get some revenge on that one. 

Tatum: What did you say after you blocked it?

White: I got that one.

Tatum: What did you really say?

White: Something like that. 

Tatum: Something like that?

Abby Chin: Something more colorful?

White: That doesn’t sound like me.

Tatum: The people like when you show more emotion.

White: I’m working on it. 

“That doesn’t sound like me” is seriously a hilarious line. Let’s end it on that, because it’s Saturday night and it feels right.

Next up: The Celtics come back home to take on the Bucks Monday night.