BSJ Game Report: Pistons 112, Celtics 105 - C's too sloppy to complete Derrick White-fueled comeback

Everything you need to know about the Celtics' loss to the Pistons, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard each scored 10 in the first quarter to power an eight-point lead. Boston missed all eight 3-point attempts in the second quarter and were lucky to still lead by four at halftime. They were 1-10 in the third and trailed by four after three. Derrick White nearly willed them all the way back from a 10-point deficit, but the C’s made too many mistakes down the stretch to finish it off. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Two straight losses: Well, the Celtics have come back down to earth a little bit. Both losses have had similar arcs, even though they happened in somewhat different ways. 

“I thought in the first game, that was just, we didn't play well,” Joe Mazzulla said of the loss to Milwaukee. “This game, I thought we executed. Thought we got some really good looks. I thought we didn't make them. We obviously had some possessions where we either didn't execute, find the right spacing, or we had 13 turnovers. A couple of those live-ball were for dunks. But I thought it was a better process tonight than it was in the past game, for sure, I thought they just made some more plays than we did down the stretch.”

- Self-inflicted wounds: Six fourth-quarter turnovers for seven Pistons points for a team that normally protects the ball well. They (Jaylen Brown) missed two free throws in the fourth as well, so that's nine points they handed to Detroit in the fourth quarter alone in a seven-point loss. That's not to mention some of the missed shots, which were uncharacteristically way off. 

- More cold shooting: Going 1-18 from 3 in the middle quarters was a killer. Cade Cunningham had five 3-pointers through three quarters. The Celtics had six. If it wasn’t for White’s 3-6 shooting in the fourth, the Celtics 25.6% from 3 would have been even worse. 

TURNING POINT 

The Celtics were up 66-60 with 7:34 to go in the third quarter, and the Pistons whipped off a 13-5 run to go up two. We can extend that run to 18-7 when they went up five with just under two minutes to go or to 25-13 when the Pistons went up six with 20 seconds left in the quarter (a Brown jumper cut it back to four heading into the fourth). Either way, the Celtics never led after that. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Neemias Queta: He had a second-quarter stretch where his rebounding allowed Boston to go on a 14-0 run because he was keeping the Pistons from getting putbacks. He also had two dribble drives for finishes at the rim, which we have never seen. I thought he had a solid game. 

- Trying zone: According to Synergy Sports, the Celtics came into this game having played 16 total possessions of zone defense this season. They played 17 against the Pistons. 

“I thought it allowed us to kind of change the matchups,” Mazzulla said. “I thought it was good for us at times. But regardless, it's one of those things that we want to have in our back pocket to change the rhythm, and regardless of if it's good or not, we've got to be able to do it. And I thought we had some good moments of it tonight.”

It worked pretty well early. The Pistons missed six shots and turned it over three times in their first 10 possessions against the zone. They made four of their next five shots and got a trip to the line after that, turning it over just once more. 

I’m still happy to see them go to it for some stretches. They need to accept that it can be effective. 

- Derrick White’s second half: It wasn’t perfect because he had three turnovers and a couple were just bad. But he scored 23 in the second half on 8-13 shooting (4-8 3pt), including 14 in the fourth quarter. 

THINGS I’M TORN OVER

- Jaylen Brown: The raw numbers look great. 34 points on 52% shooting, eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocked shots, and a steal. All of that adds up to an awesome night. And if this were the good ol’ days of reading box scores in the newspaper, I’d just say “wow, what an MVP kind of night.” 

But he also shot 7-14 from the line and he looked sluggish for long stretches. His turnovers were bad and he forced too much at times. 

“Especially in the fourth quarter, just some mindset plays,” he said after the game. “Foul. Staying down on the shot fake. Had a turnover in the fourth and then just too many missed free throws. Just mentality-wise, mindset-wise, I needed to be more for my team. I wasn't tonight."

He looked too lost for too long. He was hitting some crazy shots early on, though, and it says a lot that someone can go 34/8/7 and the reaction can be “meh, not sharp enough for my tastes.” 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Bench scoring: … or lack of bench scoring is more like it. Boston’s bench was out-scored 47-14. It looks a lot like the Jaguars-Jets score, which is a comparison no one wants. You should never be outscored by so much in basketball that it looks like an NFL blowout. And no one wants to be the Jets in anything. 

- The turnovers: They all felt costly. Some of it was the Pistons playing great defense. Some of it was the Celtics looking hungover from NFL Sunday. They just flat out lost the ball sometimes. It was like they put their phones in the same pocket as a wad of cash, and every time they checked their texts, a bunch of $20s fell at Detroit’s feet. 

- No energy: Not until the fourth quarter, anyway. The third quarter was gross because both teams fouled a million times. The building was quieter than I’ve heard it in a long time. It wasn’t until the middle of the fourth that we actually heard the building get loud. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- One of those nights … but also be careful about letting this linger

I’m not going to get too worked about a loss to the top seed on a night where some tough, out-of-character things happened. 

Pritchard missed a chance to cut the lead to two with :30 left because he air-balled a 3 so wide right the Bills just signed him to their special teams unit. White had a couple of air-balls too. Guys were just handing the ball over to Detroit with minimal pressure. 

This isn’t who these guys are, but sometimes it happens. 

The key for the Celtics is to avoid letting it linger. They have a strong opportunity to get right on Friday against a Heat team coming in on a back-to-back. Boston has three days to prepare for Miami’s gimmicky offense. 

I’m not saying Friday is a must-win or anything, but life gets back to normal starting Friday night, so it would be very nice to see some solid execution to put these two losses behind them. 

The good times were never going to roll forever. Treat Friday night like a playoff game and this will be a blip on the radar. 

Next Up: The Celtics have three more days off before hosting the Heat Friday night.