Final: Celtics 127, Pistons 109 - Smart returns, Tatum dominates

Game 59: Celtics (-12.5) vs. Detroit Pistons, 7:30 p.m., NBCS Boston

Injuries: 

Boston: OUT- Danilo Gallinari, Jaylen Brown (face), Mike Muscala (ankle), Mfiondu Kabengele (personal reasons)

QUESTIONABLE- Robert Williams (ankle)

PROBABLE- Derrick White (ear)

Detroit: OUT- Cade Cunningham (leg), Marvin Bagley (hand), Nerlens Noel (not with team)

Probable Pistons Starters: Killian Hayes, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, Bojan Bogdanovic 

Refs: Tony Brothers (#25), Tre Maddox (#23), Andy Nagy (#83)

Last time they played: Celtics 111, Pistons 99, February 6 - The Celtics came out and quickly built a 10-point lead, but they were missing at the rim a lot early and the Pistons mounted a comeback, even taking a brief lead to start the second. Derrick White and Sam Hauser were awesome in the first half, scoring 15 points each and helping to build a second 10-point lead. The Pistons cut that down as well and it settled at 7 at the half. The third belonged to Jayson Tatum (34 points), who caught fire to score 18, and head into the fourth up 18. The Pistons cut the lead down to 6 with Tatum off the floor in the fourth, but his return basically sealed it. 

A little something about this game: The Pistons are 1-2 since the last Celtics game, losing to Cleveland and Toronto but beating San Antonio. Boston's current five-game winning streak against the Pistons is the longest by either team since Detroit won nine in a row from 2005-07. Detroit's last win against the Celtics was almost exactly a year ago, 112-111 on Feb. 16, 2022, in the game right before the All-Star break. 

Things I’m looking for: 

-Keeping Jalen Duren off the boards: He gave the Pistons an annoying amount of second chances in the last game. His energy was so impactful that Robert Williams said after the game, “I hate playing against a player like me. It’s annoying, man. Rebounding all day, always crashing, it’s annoying. You’ve got to box out every time.”

- Smart’s return: I’m shocked that he’s coming back the day before the All-Star break. I don’t know what purpose that serves. But the Celtics see fit to get not only him, but Jayson Tatum and Al Horford one more game before the break. I’m especially interested to see how Smart fares after an 11 game absence. 

- The offensive flow: Honestly, we saw guys play hard and execute well for a lot of last night’s game in Milwaukee. I’m looking for these guys to do the same here, which means I’m asking the regulars to follow the lead of the reserves. Let’s see that ball move and put pressure on the defense. Let’s see this offense really reach its full potential again. 

Follow along below or in the comments during the game, chime in, and let’s have fun.