Jaylen Brown began this season by saying the Celtics can let Payton Pritchard score 30 points and lead Boston to victory against teams like Detroit in their quest to repeat. The line proved true again, following up his 19 points last week in a closer game against the Pistons with 27 points, 10 assists and seven threes that flowed into garbage time. The Celtics ran away their first game in five days, 123-99.
When Brown said Pritchard would carry a Boston team managing against Detroit, he understated it. Pritchard has carried the Celtics through the entire season.
“They play the same way with or without (Jayson Tatum),” Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff noticed before the game. “They move the ball. They’re one of the more unselfish teams that we’ve seen, consistently, and they’ve got immense levels of talent all over the floor. They space the floor, create threes … this team is good enough to find a way to beat you with the guys that they have.”
Both teams looked like ones that hadn’t played since Saturday, combining to start 2-of-12 from the field before the Celtics finished 42.3% thanks to a bench burst and the Pistons landed at 29.6% while missing all 12 threes that they tried. Luke Kornet’s dives to the rim gave the Celtics eight points in six minutes, making all three looks there and splitting another trip to the free throw line in his fourth try. Drew Peterson logged the bench wing minutes before Jordan Walsh received a chance to play into the second quarter.
The Pistons, in their last visit, caught fire and nearly matched Boston’s 21 threes with 20 despite attempting only 39. The Celtics leaned on limiting opponent attempts from deep to begin the year, but in recent weeks opponents began hitting a higher percentage of those limited attempts. Kristaps Porzingis’ return and a more drop-heavy scheme that’s led to improved rim protection have put Boston in a bind whether to allow more jump shots or interior looks to opponents. Detroit’s 12 in the first quarter surpassed the team’s nine attempts to open last game.
Payton Pritchard powered Boston back to 34.6% from deep by halftime with a 4-for-9 stint to lead all Celtics. Walsh received a pair of open looks in the corner, missing both, while Boston mostly logged double-big combinations with Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser injured. Walsh got his first basket cutting off Jrue Holiday for a dunk before Derrick White and Holiday drained threes to assume a double-digit lead, Holiday shaking off his struggles from Saturday that landed him on the bench in crunch time.
Cade Cunningham kept pace after three costly turnovers early, hitting three shots inside the arc, but Pritchard capped the quarter with a driving layup before Porzingis raced back in transition to stuff Malik Beasley at the rim. Detroit managed only 2-of-7 three-point shooting in the frame, entering halftime down by 15 points.
Holiday paused and pulled-up for a step back three midway through the third quarter around flashy plays running offense through Porzingis, floating a pass over the top of the defense to hit Brown in the air for a three-point play. Later Porzingis dropped off a pass to Kornet after Kornet fed him for a post-up, Kornet diving and hitting White for three off the catch. White, earlier, found Porzingis inside for two with a high pass that forced Detroit to call timeout.
Down 22 points late in the quarter, JB Bickerstaff called his fifth in the time Boston took two. Kornet reached 10 points on his fifth cutting shot at the rim moments later, sneaking behind Pritchard’s drive. Out of timeout, Pritchard drained his fifth three in 10 tries and found Brown inside for his seventh assist. The Celtics led, 93-68, entering the final frame.
There, White reached seven threes and stole the ball from Ausar Thompson to find Pritchard for his sixth on the break. Pritchard and White’s two baskets each, along with an alley-oop slam from White to Porzingis, pushed the Celtics’ lead to 30 and forced Bickerstaff to call his final timeout with 6:32 to remaining to empty his bench.
- Jayson Tatum (knee) missed his second game in two weeks, this one following four days rest that raised some concern about the seriousness of the tendinopathy that forced him to miss last week’s game as well. Mazzulla said Tatum did some on-court work at shootaround on Thursday morning and will participate in Friday’s practice before the team travels to Washington on Saturday. The knee pain, he said, has come-and-gone.
- Sam Hauser left Saturday’s game with an adductor strain before being seen at practice on Wednesday walking gingerly off the court before trying to participate in teh session. He did some light shooting, reverse layup drills and movement three-point shooting with limited contact at Thursday’s shootaround before being ruled inactive that night. Mazzulla said
- Kristaps Porzingis said this morning that he feels back in sync with teammates and the team’s game plan after missing roughly five months following ankle surgery in June. He said he’ll know he’s back when he reaches his full effectiveness in the energy areas, including offensive rebounding. His ankle, the same one he underwent surgery on, felt good on Thursday morning after tweaking it in Saturday’s win over Memphis. There wasn’t concern about risking re-injury relating to the initial one from the Finals when he returned to finish the game. He played 30 minutes on Wednesday, scoring 19 points with eight rebounds, shooting 8-of-18 from the field and 2-of-7 from three.
“The easy part is transitioning back into playing with these guys, because we have the same team from last season,” Porzingis said. “The hard part, obviously, is the physical aspect, to get back in that NBA rhythm, cardio, the first few games, it’s hard to imitate that in practice. I feel like I’m getting there for sure. Still have a little bit way to go … I’m really getting there. Soon, I’ll be able to step a few levels up in how I play.”
