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Rapid Reaction: Pistons 107, Celtics 106

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Detroit Pistons defeated the Boston Celtics 107-106 on Wednesday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Brandon Jennings scored a game-high 28 points on 9-of-21 shooting and hit a pivotal 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining as the Pistons rallied from a 21-point first-half deficit. Jennings also handed out 14 assists to pace the Pistons, which also got 20 points from Josh Smith. The Celtics put seven players in double figures, keyed by a team-high 19 points from Jared Sullinger. Jordan Crawford added 17 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds for Boston.

FAST START FOR C'S
The Celtics shot 69.6 percent (16 of 23) over the first 12 minutes while scoring a season-high 42 first-quarter points. Avery Bradley and Crawford each had 10 points and the frame ended with Sullinger tipping home a perfect sideline lob from Gerald Wallace with 0.2 seconds to play to punctuate a dominant frame that had Boston out front by 19. But the Celtics haven't played well with big leads.

PISTONS RALLY AHEAD
Boston led by as much as 21 in the second quarter, but Detroit got its deficit down to 11 before the intermission. An early third-quarter burst got the Pistons close and a four-point play by Jennings had the Pistons out front 74-73 with 5:01 to play in the frame. Detroit would lead by as much as seven, but Boston made things interesting at the end.

TURNING POINT
The Pistons were still up seven with little more than three minutes to go when Boston surged. With an attack on the offensive glass, the Celtics generated a couple timely second-chance baskets. Sullinger had a tip-in, then -- after Wallace drew a foul hustling for an offensive rebound -- Sullinger drilled a 3-pointer with 61 seconds remaining that had Boston back out front 105-104. Jennings answered with a 3-pointer of his own and Boston had a chance to tie, but Sullinger missed the tail end of two freebies. The Celtics got the ball back with a chance to win, but Jeff Green's strong drive on Smith ended with a off-the-mark layup.

BASS, LEE IN FOCUS
Even with their names floating in trade rumors that suggest that Houston Rockets center Omer Asik could be Boston bound, Brandon Bass and Courtney Lee focused on the task at hand. Bass started and turned in 11 points and seven rebounds over 27 minutes, while Lee had a fourth-quarter outburst while chipping in 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench.

LOOSE BALLS
The Celtics finished with a 41-36 edge on the glass and a 15-10 advantage in second-chance points. ... Boston shot 49.4 percent from the field overall (after their dismal first quarter, Detroit finished at 46.6 percent overall). ... The Pistons connected on 10 3-pointers, including five from Jennings. ... Keith Bogans and MarShon Brooks were healthy DNPs.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (12-15) had their two-game winning streak snapped. Boston wraps up a five-game homestand with a visit from the Washington Wizards on Saturday afternoon. A visit to Indiana looms on the tail end of a back-to-back before Boston gets a five-day holiday break.
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CELTICS BLOW 21-POINT LEAD, LOSE TO BRANDON JENNINGS, PISTONS
12.18.13 at 10:01 pm ET
By Mike Petraglia   |  No Comments
 

Brandon Bass started fast for Boston but the Celtics blew a 21-point lead in a loss to the Pistons. (AP)

Brandon Jennings scored 28 and dished 14 assists while Andre Drummond added 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Pistons wiped out a 21-point Celtics lead in the first half and beat Boston, 107-106, Wednesday night at TD Garden. Jeff Green missed a runner just before the final buzzer that would have won the game for Boston.

The game was played in the midst of rumors that the Celtics are be in serious talks with the Houston Rockets for big man Omer Asik. The Rockets, coached by Kevin McHale, are said to be looking for Courtney Lee, Brandon Bass and a first-round pick in return for the Rockets center.

Early on, the Celtics and Bass didn’t appear distracted in the least. Bass had six points on three field goals in the opening three minutes as the Celtics built a massive 42-23 lead after the opening 12 minutes. The quarter ended with the play of the game and season so far. With 0.2 seconds left, Gerald Wallace inbounded from mid-court near the Celtics bench and threw the ball to Jared Sullinger, who tipped the ball with his right hand, banked it off the glass and into the basket.

The second quarter featured more of the same as Boston built the lead up to 21. But the Pistons began to chip away and outscored Boston, 29-21, to cut Boston’s halftime lead to 63-52.

The Celtics appeared to be in control, leading 69-57 when the Pistons went on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to one. The Celtics held a one-point lead, 81-80, heading into the final quarter.

The Pistons opened the fourth quarter with momentum as Jennings took charge. Detroit took a 104-97 lead before Jared Sullinger drilled a 3-pointer with 61 seconds left to cap an 8-0 run and give Boston a short-lived 105-104 lead.

Jennings came right down the court and replied with a three of his own with 46.7 seconds left, putting Detroit up, 107-105. It would prove to be the game-winning basket. Sullinger made just one of two free throws after being fouled on the ensuing possession, allowing the Pistons to cling to a 107-106 lead.

Avery Bradley forced Jennings into a difficult shot with 20 seconds remaining and Sullinger grabbed the rebound. With 17.7 seconds left the Celtics called timeout and had a chance to win the game. Brandon Bass dribbled into the lane and appeared to lose control but the Celtics called their final timeout with 5.0 seconds left. Green got the ball on the inbound and drove to his right but Josh Smith defended cleanly and Green missed the shot as time expired, dropping the Celtics to 12-15 on the season.

112288

Turnovers. Nothing more need be said.



KJ

In the middle of the 4th quarter, I was yelling at the TV....getting upset and then I remembered, this season is about finding their way and building for the future. As soon as I relaxed, the Celtics got back to even and it was back and forth from there.

I have to remember that - they are not supposed to win every night like they were with KG - Pierce - Rondo - Allen. And while I still dont like Coach Stevens rotations (he kept Bass and Green out WAY TOO LONG in the 4th), I have to remind myself, this is a rebuilding year.

Sticking with KO and Vitor, giving Crawford a chance to redeem himself even after a few bad plays in a row - are all part of the investment in the future. While they may not be making all the right plays - they are gaining the experience that Doc often refused to give young players. And in the long run, it will pay off.

mrkleen09 wrote:In the middle of the 4th quarter, I was yelling at the TV....getting upset and then I remembered, this season is about finding their way and building for the future.  As soon as I relaxed, the Celtics got back to even and it was back and forth from there.

I have to remember that - they are not supposed to win every night like they were with KG - Pierce - Rondo - Allen.  And while I still dont like Coach Stevens rotations (he kept Bass and Green out WAY TOO LONG in the 4th), I have to remind myself, this is a rebuilding year.  

Sticking with KO and Vitor, giving Crawford a chance to redeem himself even after a few bad plays in a row - are all part of the investment in the future.  While they may not be making all the right plays - they are gaining the experience that Doc often refused to give young players.  And in the long run, it will pay off.

^ this

Mrkleen

DITTO..... coach and players are still in the learning curve, yep we tolieted a nice lead completey but did mount a nice comeback and had a shot at it. One thing I did notice was Jeff Green was 0-0 from the stripe. He needs to get there.

Still the game shows what this team can do full bore like the first 12 minutes. The final 2 points coming on a perfect pass at the rim with .2 seconds when all the world (including me and especially the 5 Pistons we virtually walking off the court) but Sully redirected the perfect pass ( from Wallace I think ) for the hoop. Not sure if this is something that Stevens called but the players sure knew what to do.

We will struggle to finish .500 or better but if DA can get us a serviceable center without too much cost ........ tanks are stored away for good!

beat

Less turnovers and this game is a W

Turnovers is like the flu. If you are in there with the sick guy you are gonna get sick too!

dboss

What a beautiful first quarter that was, huh?  Is 42 points some kind of record?  70% shooting.  Beautiful.

That was the honey, now comes the vinegar.  The rest of the game.  We shot 29% in the 3rd quarter, for example.  We came out after halftime and started launching 3s.  We forgot about running plays, moving the ball, getting our teammates involved.

1.  Another night where I don't know what to think of Jordan Crawford.  He had 17 points, but on 4-15 shooting.  How the hell can someone who can shoot as well as him shoot that poorly?  Maybe the 1-7 from 3 explains it.  He was taking 3s with tons of clock left, without even trying to run a play.  He got 6 assists, 3 of them in the 1st half, but did not act like a floor general in the 2nd half so much as he tried to look like KoMe.  He went into complete hero-ball mode.  As I said, I'm having trouble settling on an emotion for him.  I love his effort, his shooting (most of the time) and that he's unafraid.  I loathe how he sometimes forgets his brain on the bench and how he forgets he's the point guard now.  You may disagree with me, but this is one time when I think the boxscore OVERstates the players' contributions.  He won EC Player of the week and has stunk since.  Steez is a tease.

2.  Brandon Jennings kills us, everytime.  He killed us when he was in Milwaukee and he killed us last night.  If only Pressey could shoot he could be Jennings, except with defense.  Yeah, and if pigs could fly we'd all carry umbrellas.  His game reminds me a lot of Allen Iverson's.

3.  Hump had 4 of our 18 TOs.  I'm not sure those are all deserved since at least two of those passes he lost weren't good ones.  Still, one more reason for hoping he's the one to go and not Bass.  I thought Bass was doing a lot of one-on-one stuff last night, like that play where he tried to take his man from out near the 3pt line (?).  It's like he knows he's gone and he wanted to play his heart out before us one last time.

4.  Repeat after me "Greg Monroe is a lefty, Greg Monroe is a lefty, Greg Monroe is a lefty".  So what do we do?  We kept letting him go to his left.  I know that Asik is 7', blah, blah, blah but I covet Greg Monroe at 6'11".  Unfortunately, the only way I'm getting him is by prying him out of Joe Dumars' cold, dead hands.  Where's Al Capone when you need him?  

5.  The Detroit front court is so big.  They were playing volleyball last night.  Someone would throw the ball up and they'd just take turns going for it.  Drummond had 16 rebounds, 8 of them offensive.  Monroe had 8 rebounds, 3 of them offensive.  I have to say, after all my bitching about Asik's offense, I was thinking last night he would have come in handy on defense.  Detroit has a nice group to build with:  Drummond (who is a throwback, a real defensive center who loves paint), Monroe, Smith, Jennings, Pope.  Their bench is inadequate but filling out a bench is the easy part, the hard part is finding the guys who you can ride to victory with by playing them 35mpg and they're in good shape there.

6.  They had 14 steals.  That was just their swarming defense and our poor ball movement.  Weak passes.  I thought Pressey was the best floor general out there last night.  He had 3 assists in 10 minutes, zero TOs and generally looked to involve his teammates.  He is so quick, we really should set some picks for him so he can pick up speed going north-south.  If he could only nail his 14'ers consistently, he could come off a pick and nobody would dare come out to him because he'd be past them in a flash.

7.  Vitor played 11 minutes.  I'm not sure I understand why.  He was doing ok, he was scoring, his picks are actually become more tactile (not a lot, but some) and he's the only player we have that can physically handle Drummond.  It'll be interesting to see what happens to his minutes when Bass is gone, Sully plays more PF and he moves up the depth chart at 5.

8.  We stopped moving.  We went one-one-one hero ball, from Crawford to Bass to Sully.  We didn't recognize traps even though they were non-stop for the 2nd half.  We didn't come to the ball when the traps came.  Our passes out of the traps were weak and easily intercepted.  We live and die by the 3, our middle game is an afterthought.

A very disappointing game.  We lost a 21-point lead against a team that isn't significantly better than us and who would be our opponent in the 1st round if the playoffs started today.  It has been pointed out that we shouldn't focus on wins and losses, but rather on development and improvement.  Well, I saw tons in the 1st quarter, I saw regression in the next three.  If consistency is what we're looking for, we didn't see it last night.

I can't wait for the end of today, when we'll know what is and what is not.  I've become a bit emotionally attached to this band of scrappers and I'm sorry to see any of them go, even though I've always known it was coming.  I sure hope Asik is worth it, I surely do.



bob


.

Detroit's size only became an issue once Boston got away from running the court, started turning the ball over, and settling on jumpshots.

I highly doubt Detroit wants to run all night with their bigs so it must be taken advantage of.

Transition basketball is an equalizer in my opinion, and the Celtics need to rely on that more. Without a legit PG (no offense to Jordan), the half court offense is only going to be marginally successful.



KJ

KJ,

As I said on the Game On Thread, I wish the league would keep a stat on fast break screwups.  The Celtics do more to mess up their own transition efforts than any opposing team could.  If it's not a clean breakaway (and sometimes even then), it's often an adventure with the Celtics.

Sam