Pistons come back from break flat, lose to Celtics 110-98
By Ryan Love
The Detroit Pistons lost a bad one to the Celtics in Detroit Friday night. The Celtics’ bench outscored the Pistons’ bench 65-21 and the Pistons suffered from 13 turnovers for the game.
The Detroit Pistons (28-30) could not put anything together in Friday night’s 110-98 loss to the Boston Celtics (41-19).
The Celtics dominated on defense and left the Pistons in the dust in the second half. The Pistons allowed the Celtics to go on a 22-6 run between the 3rd and 4th quarters.
Pistons Head Coach Stan Van Gundy acknowledged three factors that decided this game in favor of the Celtics:
SVG points to the bench, the second quarter and Boston's three point shooting as the differences in the game.
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) February 24, 2018
The Pistons gave up a season high in bench points to the Celtics, being outscored 65-21. Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum were the only Celtics starters in double figures while four of their bench players had 11 or more points.
Injured starting center Aron Baynes was replaced by rookie Daniel Thies in the first half and Thies went on to score a career-high 19 points.
Ish Smith had the most positive game for the Pistons, scoring a game-high 20 points. Smith was a large part of the Pistons fast start by hitting his first eight shots from the floor.
However, the Celtics outscored the Pistons 38-21 in the second quarter and that is when the Pistons began to struggle from the floor.
“We came out with no energy,” Andre Drummond said to the media post-game.
Blake Griffin’s struggles Friday night were the story offensively for the Pistons.
Griffin finished with 17 points and four rebounds. He made just five of 19 shots from the floor and turned the ball over six times.
The Celtics, statistically the best defense in the NBA, clogged the paint to keep Griffin and Andre Drummond from finding any sort of rhythm beyond the first quarter. Drummond finished with 15 points and 17 rebounds.
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He nor the rest of the Pistons could defend the surprising range of Daniel Thies.
The Pistons bench has gone through a few changes since the Blake Griffin trade, but they looked the worst they have looked all year Friday night.
Despite the energy of players like Anthony Tolliver and newly acquired James Ennis III, they had nothing for the likes of Marcus Smart and former Piston, Marcus Morris.
Smart and Morris finished with a combined 27 points.
Offensively, the Pistons were flat. The three-point shooting of the Celtics buried the Pistons down the stretch of this game. The Celtics made 17 of 39 threes while the Pistons made just 10 of 33. Jameer Nelson and Luke Kennard were non-factors, going a combined 0-for-3 from three.
Things are not going well with Jameer Nelson running the point.
— PistonPowered (@PistonPowered) February 24, 2018
Stan Van Gundy chose not to play Langston Galloway.
The Pistons continue to miss the shot-making of Reggie Jackson. Jackson is not expected back for the next few weeks at least. If the Pistons play their way out of playoff contention, it would not be out of the question to wonder if he returns this season.
The Pistons travel to Charlotte Sunday to take on the Hornets. The Hornets are just 3.5 games behind the Pistons for ninth place in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics will play the Knicks in New York Saturday night.