POST GAME DETROIT - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Rolls Through Pistons In 109-89 Blowout Win GO RED SOX!!!!!!

NESN by Adam London on Sat, Oct 27, 2018 at 9:23PM

The Detroit Pistons are undefeated no more. Fresh off an impressive comeback win in Oklahoma City over the Thunder, the Boston Celtics strolled into Motor City and steamrolled the Pistons in a 109-89 blowout at Little Caesars Arena. Boston managed to rip off the rout despite 13 combined points from Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Jayson Tatum. Jaylen Brown led the way with 19, while Marcus Morris (18 points), Daniel Theis (17 points), Gordon Hayward (15 points) and Terry Rozier (14 points) also scored in double figures. The Pistons shot a dreadful 18 percent (7-of-37) from 3-point range, while the C’s shined from beyond the arc at a 41 percent clip. With the win, the Celtics improve to 4-2, while the Piston drop to 4-1. Here’s how it all went down:

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

STRONG START The Celtics looked sharp in the first quarter, which concluded in the visitors holding a 30-21 lead over the Pistons. Boston did a fine job distributing the basketball in the opening 12 minutes, as five players scored four points or more, highlighted by Brown’s seven points. Detroit’s offense lacked rhythm in the early going, but Stanley Johnson’s 11 first-quarter points kept his team within striking distance. The C’s also connected on four of their 10 3-point attempts.

FOOT ON THE GAS The C’s showed no let-up in the second quarter, building off the momentum in the first to take a 63-41 lead at the break, which represented their highest first-half point total of the season thus far. As has been routine for the green on the campaign, it received a lift from its bench in the second. Rozier and Morris combined for 15 points, while Semi Ojeleye surprised with nine. Equally surprising was Boston’s first-half dominance on the glass, as it outrebounded Detroit 30-19 despite the presences of Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin.

LEAD MAINTAINED The Celtics regressed after their stellar first half, but the Pistons failed to take advantage. Despite Boston only shooting 31 percent from the field in the third quarter, it still managed to take an 84-67 lead into the final frame. Hayward paced the C’s in the quarter with six, while Tatum notched five after being limited to one first-half point. The Pistons leaned on their starters in the third, as Drummond and Reggie Jackson combined for 13 points.

CRUISE CONTROL The Pistons really never stood a chance in this one. With a sizeable lead in hand, the Celtics took the luxury of resting the bulk of their starters in the final quarter. Detroit didn’t even come close to flirting with a comeback, though, as Boston emptied its bench and coasted to a dominant road win.

PLAY OF THE GAME Robert Williams III scored the first points of his NBA career in emphatic fashion.

UP NEXT The Celtics and Pistons square off in the second leg of their home-and-home series Tuesday night. Tip-off from TD Garden is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
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Red Sox Wrap: Boston Wins Game 4, Now One Win Away From World Series

NESN

The Boston Red Sox are one win away from a World Series championship. Boston beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-6 Saturday night to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Rafael Devers delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the ninth inning to give the Red Sox their first lead of the game, and Steve Pearce added a three-RBI double to blow the game open. Boston trailed 4-0 in the seventh before Mitch Moreland connected on a three-run home run. Pearce launched a solo homer in the eighth to tie the game. Eduardo Rodriguez pitched well but didn’t factor into the decision. Craig Kimbrel allowed a two-run homer in the ninth to Kike Hernandez, but ultimately sealed the win. Here’s how it all went down:

GAME IN A WORD Epic. The Red Sox appeared dead and destined to allow the Dodgers to even the series at two games apiece. But a furious late-innings rally has Boston within one game of claiming baseball’s ultimate prize. ON THE BUMP — Rodriguez pitched far better than his stat line suggests. The left-hander dominated the Dodgers through five innings, holding Los Angeles scoreless while allowing just one hit. But a series of unfortunate events spelled his undoing in the sixth inning. Rodriguez started the frame by hitting David Freese on the first pitch. He responded by striking out Max Muncy, who probably should’ve been the last hitter he faced. But Alex Cora left Rodriguez in, and the 25-year-old promptly surrendered a double to Justin Turner before intentionally walking Manny Machado to load the bases with one out. Then this happened: At the very least, Christian Vazquez probably should’ve held the ball instead of gambling with a throw to first base. Instead, the Dodgers scored the first run of the game and left men on first and third with two outs for Yasiel Puig, who crushed a three-run homer to left field. Should Rodriguez have been in the game to face Puig? The numbers suggest the Dodgers slugger struggles against lefties, but the eye test would tell you that Rodriguez was out of gas. All told, Rodriguez allowed four earned runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two in his first start since Sept. 20. — Matt Barnes came on in relief and walked Chris Taylor before striking out Austin Barnes to end the inning. — Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning. The Dodgers put men on first and third with two outs in the eight, but Kelly struck out Yasmani Grandal to end the threat. The right-hander picked up the win, his first of the postseason. — Kimbrel was shaky in the ninth, but was able to lock down the victory.

IN THE BATTER’S BOX — Through 24 innings in Los Angeles, “anemic” was the best word to describe Boston’s offense. The Red Sox had just one hit through six in Game 4, continuing a pitiful stretch that encompassed much of Friday night’s Game 3. Dodgers starter Rich Hill baffled Boston’s hitters over 6 1/3 dominant innings before handing the ball to right-hander Ryan Madson. — Then Moreland pinch-hit with two outs in the seventh and delivered a titanic, 437-foot homer off Madson. — Until Pearce stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, the 1-4 hitters in Boston’s lineup were hitless (!) at Dodger Stadium. But the first baseman took Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen deep with a one-out, solo home run to tie the game. — Jansen came back out for the ninth and retired Eduardo Nunez to begin the frame. Brock Holt then doubled down the left field line, setting the stage for Devers’ heroics. — The Red Sox went on to load the bases with two outs. Pearce then stepped to the plate and delivered a bases-clearing double. — Xander Bogaerts tacked on an RBI single to account for the final score. — The Red Sox once again won in spite of struggles from their marquee hitters. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez both went hitless. — Bogaerts, Holt and Vazquez each finished with a hit apiece. Pearce finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs.

UP NEXT The Red Sox and Dodgers will square off Sunday night in Game 5. Chris Sale will start for Boston, while Clayton Kershaw will take the mound for L.A. First pitch at Dodger Stadium is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET.

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We are waking up

dboss wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:We are waking up

Yep

They got a long way to go but you can see that this team is loaded.  

Nice to see Jaylen look like himself, Hayward looked really good too, some clever finishes. He didn’t do it all by himself, but Jaylen played great D on Griffin.

worcester wrote:Jaylen is back, Gordon is getting his groove on, O Danny Boy is really feeling his Irish, MM is making a strong argument for a bigger paycheck next year as is Terry.
Good work guys.

MM looks a lot faster, last year he could barely run, hope he can keep it going.

Great game.....starting to click.

Good to hear the Anti Morris Army out here singing a different tune.

The demise of Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown has been greatly exaggerated.

What a game! It shows that our bench is better than many starting units in the NBA. If Irving is still not up to his normal standard after surgery, Theis seems to have completely recovered and played a hell of a game.
Kudos to Coach Stevens and to the whole team.
Buckle down, we're going to have an interesting drive this year.

Berlin-T

A few observations from the boxscore:

1.  Both coaches played 13 players, the new maximum active roster, with Brad giving 3 players 5 minutes (Yabby, Wanamaker, Ojeleye) and Williams 8.  The game was over early if Brad is sending in his human victory cigars with almost a half a quarter left.

2.  We outscored them 40-38 in the paint.  No Baynes and playing against Drummond and Griffin.  Amazing!

3.  Three O-boards for Theis and 2-3 from 3.  Mr. Inside and outside.  Being respected for his 3pt shooting will make his pnr/pnp play even more effective.

4.  Every Detroit starter played >25 minutes.  Only two Celtic starters did.  Easy.

5.  Nice homecoming for Morris.  Traded for Avery Bradley, who was packaged for Griffin, who shot 2-13.  Morris was 7-12 and 3-6 from 3.  He also outrebounded Griffin in fewer minutes.  As a starter Morris good, but not very good, at every team he has started for.  He has been sensational off the bench.  

http://kwese.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401070755


bob

Tom Westerholm
Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
about 1 hour ago
Asked Marcus Morris if he feels a little healthier this year. "You liked that two-hand dunk didn’t you?” He said he dropped some weight this summer and worked on his flexibility.


bob



.

While we shot out to that huge halftime lead ( could not watch as I was at the Syracuse football game) I did look at the score.

Detroit had ZERO offensive rebounds in the first half.

And they shot poorly so it’s not like there were few opportunities.

Wonder if we’ve ever shutout a team on the boards better than that?

And they have Drummond????


And we did this with neither Tatum, Horford or Irving doing much scoring with 13 points combined!!

beat

Boys and Girl, if THAT team shows up every night, NO ONE stands a chance. No one was standing around on offense. They were passing the ball, everyone touching it, getting the ball over halfcourt before shot clock got to 20 seconds, Jaylen Brown tied up Blake Griffin so much so he sat out for quite a while (He may have been in more int he second half but i was watching game while my wife was asleep. Just didn't see him in that much. Every time the camera panned to him, he was sitting)

Nice Assist to baskets made, 25/39, that was evident with the ball movement. I said in another thread, eventually these teams jacking up all the 3's and going undefeated are going to realize it ain't working.

This game also has a mini playoff feel to it with the back-to-back. We'll see what adjustments DET makes but the announcers for DET on LP were scratching their heads for a different result on Tuesday.

The bench scored way more than the starters. Dang!! 60-47! With that kind of flexibility, if BOS can just find a way to shut down the starting 5 of GSW, that will just about do it as their bench will never outscore their starters, but no chicken counting just yet.

Now let's hope we don't lay an egg Tuesday but I expect DET to show up this time with a better game plan and make it closer. Then enter the Bucks. But overall, VERY impressed!

db

Some of my favorite plays that we can build off of were Hayward taking the ball on the left side and just outspeeding Drummond for a clever athletic finish. Jaylen doing some bullyball ala Paul Pierce, just catching the ball down low and going up over the smaller player. That play should be a staple whenever one of our wings has a favorable match up, loved that play for years with Pierce, we have multiple players that can catch and beat their man. Kyrie had a really great steal on Drummond, his shot was off, but his defense looks improved.

WORLD CHAMPIONS

RED SOX NATION !

112288

Just keeping our enemies closer, but on our off night tonight, on LP, Toronto @ Milwaukee 8pm. Should be interesting to say the least. Someone will lose their first game of the season.

db

It's still so early in the year that speculations are hard to really solidify. With that said, I think our offense is on the brink of being unstoppable. No, we haven't fit all the pieces together, but we have at least 10-11 guys that can get double figures any given night. That makes the Celtics more dangerous because you never know who's going to get hot.

I think in the early going, the Celtics were trying to play up to the expectations surrounding the team instead of just playing basketball. Sometimes you can try a little too hard.



KJ

Agreed kj88. When you have that many options for 15+ point nights (8 that I've counted) and the ball is moving and the players are moving, and the assists to baskets made is 65%+, someone on defense is going to fall asleep in the allotted 24 seconds. It's the Globetrotter Syndrome. Not quite as extreme as that is where we would go 82-0, but you get the picture.

Plus add the fact that the team had to reset and relearn everything with Hayward and Irving back, you are going to have a period of adjustment. Those are two pretty big scoring guys to re-insert into the line up after that playoff run.

The team didn't experience enough turmoil/changes over the summer where it should take too long for them to get up to speed. I would say they are ahead of schedule. This three game set with Detroit and Milwaukee will tell us exactly where they are in the adjustment process. If they crush DET again tomorrow and do the same against MIL, then they have pretty much figured it out and the rest of the league is in big trouble...other things equal.

That's the phrase we hate to hear because we know there may/will be injuries, etc. to gum up the works and flow. GSW for the last 4 years has pretty much escaped unscathed the injury bug or anything drastic (Curry was out for extended time). Us losing Kyrie and not having Hayward for the playoffs would normally be a devastating blow to any other team with that much talent in the Starting 5 (imagine GSW without Curry and Durant for the playoffs, they'd be an 8th seed at best) but Stevens had a Plan B that got us 7 minutes from the finals last season without those two. THAT'S pretty strong! That's ridiculous.

Now everyone's back. Game 1 of this three game "undefeated" set is in the books. Tomorrow, we'll be at home and hopefully even more comfortable. Then MIL at home. I'm looking forward to it as I am sure the Celtics are!

db

worcester wrote:Just think of the flexibility we have when our shooting guard - Jaylen - can guard a Blake Griffin and do it well.

He played him as physical as possible, I gotta think Griffin was shocked at how strong Jaylen was, since he’s used to playing 2’s was easy for him to stay and press on Griffin, he didn’t have to chase him and he wasn’t going to lose him....Jaylen’s defensive ability and versatility is a big part of this team’s identity.