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Celtics Wrap: C’s Beat Pistons 110-98, Snap Three-Game Losing Streak

NESN by Logan Mullen on Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 9:13PM

The Boston Celtics left their losing ways on the other side of the NBA All-Star break. After entering the break on a three-game skid, the C’s wiped the slate clean with a convincing 110-98 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night at Little Caesars Arena. Daniel Theis had a tremendous game off the bench, dropping a team-high 19 points as one of six Celtics in double figures. Ish Smith led the Pistons with game-high 20 points. Marcus Smart — who had missed the previous 11 games with a right-hand injury — returned to action Friday, scoring 12 points with three rebounds and six assists over 25 minutes of work. The Celtics climb to 41-19 with the win, while the Pistons fall to 28-30. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Kyrie Irving SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Al Horford C: Aron Baynes

TATUM STARTS HOT After the Celtics opened up a modest 5-0 lead to start the game, Detroit quickly countered with an 11-1 run over 1:59. Things largely were even between both sides for the remainder of the quarter, with the Pistons’ lead getting no bigger than seven as they finished the first 12 minutes up 28-23. Tatum looked good out of the gate, scoring a game-high eight points, knocking down all three of his shots from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers. Baynes left the game less than three minutes after tip with left elbow soreness and did not return.

THEIS GOES OFF Boston cut into the lead and pulled things to a tie just 3:10 into the second quarter. From there, the C’s began to establish — and extend — a lead of their own. The Celtics’ advantage got as big as 15 at one point as they outscored the Pistons 24-10 over the final 5:41 to take a 61-49 lead into the break. Theis went wild over 7:09 off the bench. The big man went 5-for-6 from the field, knocking down both of his 3-point attempts for 12 points, while also grabbing five rebounds.

LATE SURGE HELPS C’S After entering the half down by 12, the Pistons spent the majority of the third quarter chipping away at the Celtics’ lead. The Pistons pulled within four points on multiple occasions, the final time a result of a 9-4 run over 1:48 late in the quarter. But just when it looked like Detroit would make a push to tie things up, Irving swung things back in the C’s favor in the final two minutes. The point guard hit a pull-up jumper followed by a trey to put the Celtics back up by nine, and a Greg Monroe layup the next possession put Boston up by 11. James Ennis threw down a dunk with 24 seconds left to end the scoring for the third, but because of the late surge, the C’s took an 86-77 lead into the final frame.

EARLY RUN CLOSES THE DOOR After letting the Pistons back in the game the previous quarter, the Celtics made sure to not make the same mistake in the fourth. Boston opened the frame with a 7-0 run over the first 2:52, extending its lead to a game-high 16 points. All said, after the first six minutes of the last stanza, the Celtics outscored Detroit 13-2, putting themselves up by 20 and thus making the game pretty far out of reach. The Pistons would pull as close as 12 but never ended up in a position to make things compelling late in the game.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT The rookie turned a potentially bad sequence into an impressive one.

UP NEXT The Celtics will play the second game of a road back-to-back Saturday night against the New York Knicks. Tip from Madison Square Garden is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
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Smart helps Celtics end three-game losing skid

NBC SPORTS BOSTON By A. Sherrod Blakely February 23, 2018 9:44 PM

There were Boston Celtics who had more points, rebounds and assists than Marcus Smart.

But make no mistake about it.

The Boston Celtics are a better team with Smart’s return, evident by them cruising to a 110-98 win over Detroit.

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Smart was part of a strong second unit, tallying 12 points in his first game back after missing the previous 11 due to a laceration on his right hand that required 20 stitches to close after he punched a picture frame last month.

“I felt great,” Smart told NBC Sports Boston following the game. “This training staff did a good job of making sure I was still in shape and ready come back when I did come back.”

Within minutes of entering the game, Smart drained a 3-pointer which was part of a Celtics’ 3-point barrage in which they were collectively 17-for-39 on 3’s.

Said Boston’s Daniel Theis: “He (Smart) was great for us today.”

Here are the Stars, Studs and Duds from Boston’s 110-98 win over Detroit.



STARS

Daniel Theis: The 25-year-old rookie came up with one big hustle play after another. And when all was said and done, he had a career-high 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting to go with seven rebounds.

Ish Smith: For most of the night, he was the best player on the floor for the Detroit Pistons. He would lead Detroit with 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting along with six assists.

Celtics bench: This was one of the best games we’ve seen from Boston’s backups. Along with doing a solid job defensively, the Celtics’ bench absolutely dominated the game scoring the ball. For the night, they had a season-high 65 points scored.



STUDS

Kyrie Irving: Irving did not have the monster game offensively, and the reason was clear: they didn’t need it. He had 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting which included four made 3’s, not to mention six assists.

Andre Drummond: He got off to a slow start, but Drummond’s play around the rim really picked up after the first quarter as he finished with a double-double of 15 points and 17 rebounds.



DUDS

Blake Griffin: He had 17 points, but he was non-factor most of the game courtesy of some really strong play defensively by Al Horford. Griffin shot just 5-for-19 from the field and turned the ball over six times.

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NOW THAT'S SMART BASKETBALL!

112288

That was a really great comeback game for his first game from Smart, he said the coaching staff did a great job keeping him ready, what a great job, he took good shots added what was missing to our D and took good shots. Theis with a breakout game, Kyrie not doing too much and doing his thing. Monroe looked good, had some nice post ups and we won going away with bad offensive games from Jaylen and Al. Our defense looked right, looked good, offense moved the ball. One of those games we won big and didn’t really play that great, we can actually play a lot better....still a lot of room for growth. We could get Monroe more shots, he definitely can add a lot with his post up. Al actually played some very good defense on Drummond and Griffin, as did Theis. Oh yeah Tatum looked good too.

BALANCED SCORING = WINNING BASKETBALL!

LOOK HOW MANY GUYS WERE IN DOUBLE FIGURES.
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I guess we got a little glimpse of Smart's value last night.

some will say it was only a coincidence, others will see something else.

Danny best be thinking of a way to get Smart re-signed here , IMO.

A very good team game for the game back from the All Star break.

We are finally seeing just how good Theis can play. This is being called his breakout game and you get no argument from me. Since the beginning of the year DT has improved the quality of his play. He has to become the leader of the second unit. Like Horford much of the time, the ball going through Theis improves the offensive flow. He makes good basketball decisions on almost every possession when he touches the ball. Here's your game ball. You like to play and we like the way.

This is what I was expecting after the London trip. Better late than never.

Really glad to see Tatum playing the way he did earlier in the season. Let's hope that the break has refreshed him and we get his A game the rest of the season.

Monroe was another very good pick up by Danny. He has yet to really have a good game in green but it's coming.

A nice return by Smart. He played within the context of the game, took smart(sic) shots, and brought his superior D as well. 5 of 9 from the field and 2 of 6 from 3 in 25 minutes. The minutes seem just about right. If he plays much more he starts thinking he needs to contribute more to the offense. His shots from 2 point land were well within the flow and he made a good percentage. As usual he went a little overboard on 3's. This is his downfall and where he hurts the team the most. I think he hit his first two and then missed the rest. Welcome back Marcus.

Next up the Yorkers. Nothing I'd like better than to see GinoTime at Madison Square Garden, Live from New York. on Saturday Night.

The emphasis on defensive intensity helped. But that's our identity.


KJ

Theis with his best game as a Celtic so far, by far.  Excellent on the offensive end, including his 3s.  Way to go.  Celtic high 19 points on 8-10, with Drummond defending no less, and 7 rebounds in 21 minutes.  He is, in my opinion, the best roll guy on the team by far and the star of this game. Ish Smith had 1 more point than Theis, but he played 12 more minutes. Excellent outing for ubermensch Theis.

Tatum with a strong game, came out strong and engaged and scored from the beginning.  Unusual for him this year, he seems to be more of a 2nd half scorer.  This time he started off hot.  Only played 8 minutes in the 2nd half.  Brad saving his legs for tonight?

Morris has never seen a shot he doesn't want o take.  He got the ball with 9-10 seconds left in the shot clock and held onto it until he took a buzzer beater.  That is why he was a starter on a bad team and a bench player on a good one.

Poor Semi Ojelaye.  He plays 20 minutes but they are against Andre Drummond.

Monroe looked better.  He still doesn't look really comfortable, but he was working hard (on the offensive end).  Blew a couple of shots at the rim and got eaten up by Drummond at least once.  His defense?  I'm still not liking it.  

Smart with 6 assists and a couple of Tommy Points.  If he is re-signed by Danny and is a Celtic longterm we might have to start calling them "Smart Points".  He is always giving up his body to make a play.  And 5-9 from the field?  If he can do this through the playoffs we're in good shape.  Our defense is back, at least last night, and Smart was the difference.

Rozier was 3-9 but he had 5 rebounds and 7 assists.

They started out shooting 55% in the 1st quarter but 9-22 (41%) to drag the % down to 45% at halftime.  2nd half they went 17-42 (41%).  We started looking like the pre-All Star game Celtics and then reverted to the 16 game winning streak Celtics.
 
Griffin is on his way out. He is not the freak athlete he was even 5 years ago. He did one of his spin moves in the lane and the ball didn't clear the front of the rim because he had no lift. SVG gave up Bradley, Tobias Harris and Marjanovic and a 2018 first round pick (at this moment that's a lottery pick) for him. Good job, DOC. The Master of Disaster strikes again.

Baynes has not been ruled out for tonight's game vs Knicks.  He "strained or sprained" his elbow.  We could sure use him against Kanter, the offensive half of Andre Drummond.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975619

















bob



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Berlin-T wrote:Great to have Smart back. Theis reminds me so much of Dave Cowens, he has the same passion for rebounding, playing defense and on top of that he shoots the 3ball well. But above all this was a team that played like one, not like a bunch of individualists. If the game had been played in Boston we might have even seen Gino.

Berlin-T

Theis does have some of Cowens attributes, doesn’t quite have his ferocity, but few did, definitely has Cowens passion and effectiveness for doing the dirty work. Smart did look great, was expecting him to brick everything with injury being on right hand, credit to him and coaching staff for even losing weight when he was out, if he can keep playing just like this, with Monroe finding his niche and rest of team jelling, we will be tough for anybody come playoffs.