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6 takeaways as Pistons stun Celtics, snap nine-game winning streak
The Celtics tripped up right before the break.
The Celtics were prepared for the Pistons on Wednesday.
They have, after all, lost games against teams worse than the Pistons this year. They know that any NBA team can play well on any given night.
They even acknowledged the possibility of a letdown prior to the game.
“We don’t want to drop a game for no reason tomorrow,” Jaylen Brown said on Wednesday after the Celtics beat the 76ers by 48 points.
The Celtics didn’t drop Wednesday’s game 112-111 for no reason. Jayson Tatum turned the ball over seven times and missed an iso jumper at the buzzer for the win. On the play prior, Jaylen Brown got blocked by two Pistons at once. The Celtics’ offense improved in the second half, but the staunch defense that kept winning them games gave up 36 points in the third quarter. They took an eight-point lead in the fourth but couldn’t slow the Pistons’ last rally.
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“We knew not to be surprised,” Jaylen Brown said. “I just think Detroit played fantastic.”
Brown held up his end, scoring 31 points on 12-for-21 shooting and at this point, the Celtics have flipped the narrative on their season. Rather than needing to prove they are good with multiple wins in a row, we now need to see a couple of losses in a row before we assume they have reverted to their old ways entirely. Nine wins buys you a lot of breathing room. Moreover, both Marcus Smart and Robert Williams missed Wednesday’s game and we have seen the difference a fully healthy roster makes for the Celtics.
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Still, both Brown and Ime Udoka admitted that going into the All-Star break with a loss was difficult to swallow.
“Bittersweet. Going to leave a sour taste for sure,” Udoka said. “Kind of look back and reflect on the things we did well over the streak. Didn’t do it tonight. Defensively and even offensively, like I said, it wasn’t as crisp as we’ve been.
“But the effort was there overall. Like I said, I think their physicality bothered us. But I did tell them it was congrats on what we’ve done. Obviously, it would be nice to finish it off the right way. Take a rest on your bodies and minds, and think about what we have coming forward. Nine is done. It would’ve been nice to finish it off the right way, but we still got big things coming up.”
More takeaways
2. The Celtics got obliterated on the offensive glass — the Pistons enjoyed an 18-2 advantage, and Brown said they imposed the way they wanted to play on the Celtics.
“That was the game plan for them, they were going to try to make it a physical game, and they did,” Brown said. “The refs let a lot of things go tonight and allowed them to play to their strengths, and they took advantage.
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“Tonight was a challenge for us to do so with some of our more physical guys out, Smart and Rob, and they definitely took advantage tonight.”
3. Tatum’s final look wasn’t a bad one — he generated a relatively open look against Jerami Grant, which came up short.
Still, Tatum’s crunch time stats aren’t particularly inspiring, and the play looked strikingly similar to so many of the Celtics’ losses this season — a last-second isolation against an inferior team.
Udoka called the shot “decent” but said the Celtics would have preferred something going to the rim.
“We had some options there, if they switched, to get a handoff, we wanted to get downhill a little bit there,” Udoka said. “But he got a clean look. Missed some easy ones tonight, and settled at times. I think we all did, and didn’t really play through the physicality, or when we did play in a crowd, could’ve gone off it a little bit, but not the worst look, obviously, but we would’ve liked to get him downhill.”
4. The loss wasted an excellent performance by Grant Williams, who finished with 17 points and hit four 3-pointers on seven attempts. Williams remains scalding hot from deep — he’s 30-for-59 in his last 15 games from 3-point range — and he punished the Pistons when they closed out hard with a pair of layups.
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He also finished with three assists, including this cross-court pass to Aaron Nesmith.
One other thing to note from that play: In college, Aaron Nesmith — the recipient of Williams’ cross-court heave — showed a lot of promise relocating and floating to open space off the ball. In the play above, he takes a step or two to the right, then floats back and sets himself so that Williams’ pass hits his shooting pocket. That allows him to get the shot off quickly despite an aggressive closeout.
Nesmith has had a disappointing season, but little signs of progress poke through when he gets consistent minutes.
5. Another player to keep an eye on after the break: Al Horford. Horford hasn’t had much spotlight in recent weeks as Robert Williams looked something like a third star, but he was integral to the Celtics’ defense against Joel Embiid (as always) on Wednesday, and he finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists against the Pistons, shooting 8-for-10 from the floor. Horford’s usage has slipped a bit as the season goes on, but his role could be significant in the postseason, especially against certain matchups.
6. Did the Celtics prove anything to themselves during their nine-game winning streak?
“You ask me that question all the time: ‘Do I believe in this group?'” Brown said. “I always answer that question with ‘yes’ despite what anybody else has to say. So same energy now. We’ve just got to continue to take it one game at a time. Focus on the positives, but learn from the negatives. Continue to get better and stay the course.
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“That’s what basketball is about. That’s what life is about. Same thing.”
Horford wants to make sure the Celtics return from the break with an edge.
“We have been playing good basketball, good basketball tonight and had a chance there,” Horford said. “Coming back, we understand that we have to hold that standard and continue to play at a high level to continue to get better as a group.”
The Celtics’ next game is a week from Thursday against the Nets.
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