Pistons lose to Celtics 104-98 on Rip Hamilton Night

The Boston Celtics (38-21) played spoiler at the Palace of Auburn Hills tonight, beating the Detroit Pistons 104-98 (28-31) on Rip Hamilton Night.

The Detroit Pistons had their hands full defensively, struggling at times to guard Boston Celtics All-Star Isaiah Thomas. The 5’9 point guard scored 33 points on 10-23 shooting in 34 minutes. Head coach Stan Van Gundy attempted to counter Thomas’s scoring ability by matching him up with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope when he was on the floor. That led to forward Stanley Johnson being on the floor for 11 minutes, the least he has played in one game since Jan. 23’s 100-94 loss to the Sacramento Kings (three minutes).

The Pistons also struggled during some stretches of the game in general, trailing Boston by as many as 15 points during the third quarter. Detroit though was able to keep within reach in part because of 10 forced turnovers in that frame alone. Boston finished with 16 total turnovers:

Celtics have had 15 games this season with 10 turnovers or less.

They just turned ball over 10 times in 3rd quarter. And still won frame.
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) February 27, 2017

Detroit also had ball-handling issues tonight, recording 17 turnovers. The difference was they were able to covert Boston’s mistakes into 19 points (for comparison, the Celtics had 12 points off turnovers).

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By the final stretch, Van Gundy’s defensive rotation decision started to pay off. Thomas went 1-7 in the fourth quarter while being guarded by the 23-year-old. Caldwell-Pope also had nine points in the frame, three of which came from the free throw line after drawing a shooting foul beyond the arc on Thomas.

It was the Celtics’ ability to score inside and create second-chance shots though that helped put them on the top. With about 38 seconds left, rookie Jaylen Brown hit a major three-point shot while being fouled by Marcus Morris. After Brown missed the following free throw, Marcus Smart was able to grab the offensive rebound and draw an additional foul to give his team a five-point swing.

That – along with a missed wide open three-point attempt by Marcus Morris coming out of a timeout moments later – helped seal the deal for the Celtics, snapping their two-game losing streak.

It was the league-leading 30th time the Celtics had a one-possession game with less than three minutes to go, according to ESPN’s Chris Forsberg. With the win, Boston moves to 19-11 in those situations.

Meanwhile, the Pistons had their two-game winning streak snapped.