Celtics made it much harder than it had to be, but escape with win over lowly Pistons

BOSTON -- The Celtics almost became the answer to an unfortunate trivia question Thursday night. Boston nearly let the lowly Pistons end their 27-game losing streak at TD Garden.

The team with the best record in the NBA fell behind the worst team in the NBA -- one that hasn't won a game since late October -- by 21 points in the first half. The Celtics made a furious comeback in the third and led by six points with less than two minutes to play, but then let the Pistons back by doing what plagued them throughout the game: Committing turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds.

It was not the best of nights for the Celtics, who were ultimately victorious in overtime thanks to heroics from Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, and some all-around play by Jayson Tatum. Without Jaylen Brown, Boston needed all three of them to be at their best in that extra five-minute frame.

But it should have never come to that against the now 2-29 Detroit Pistons. The Celtics were due for a letdown in their first game back from a successful 3-1 West Coast trip, but not that kind of letdown. Not covering the 17.5-point spread was acceptable, but losing to these Pistons would have been an embarrassing shock to the system.

How did it get that bad Thursday night? The Celtics looked much more like last year's frustrating squad in the first half, settling for threes instead of attacking the basket. Boston was just 4-for-24 from downtown over the first 24 minutes, and 18-for-46 overall. The 47 points that the Celtics scored were a season-low for the first half this season.

The defense was not much better, as the C's continually fell asleep on their defensive rotations and allowed easy and open looks. That allowed the Pistons to shoot 61.4 percent and drop 66 points in the first half, the most Detroit has scored over the first 24 minutes all season. 

Tatum had 16 points at the break, but did so on 5-for-14 shooting and was a dreadful 2-for-8 from deep. White was just 1-for-5 and went into the locker room with just two points after one of the worst halves of his career.

But after shaking off their daze at halftime, the Celtics responded in a big way in the third quarter. They erased their 19-point halftime deficit by winning the third, 35-16. Tatum and Porzingis outscored the Pistons on their own, with 23 combined points in the frame. 

The Pistons had no answer for Porzingis all night, and he continued to punish them in the fourth and overtime. He dominated the post and hit six of his 10 shots to close out the game, dropping 17 points in the fourth and overtime. White also found his groove, scoring 16 points of his own over the final 17 minutes, hitting six of his eight shots. He was a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor and added three free throws in OT.

And being Derrick White, he also had a huge block in the fourth quarter, staying in front of Jaden Ivey on a break and swatting away his attempt at the rim in a 94-93 game. 

The Celtics could have run away with it in the fourth, but allowed Detroit to pull down eight offensive rebounds. That gave Detroit 13 second-chance points for the quarter, capped off by Bojan Bogdanovic sneaking in for a putback with 4.6 seconds left. Tatum had a great look but missed a mid-range pullup at the buzzer, and the C's were heading to overtime against a two-win team.

The Pistons dominated the boards Thursday night, out-rebounding the Celtics 57-43 and 19-11 on the offensive glass. Detroit had 14 more second-chance points than Boston on the evening.

At least the Celtics looked like the Celtics in overtime, and the Pistons looked like the Pistons. A heavily guarded Porzingis made a great feed to a wide open White under the basket to give Boston a four-point edge with 1:09 to play, and Tatum fed Porzingis for a bunny on the C's next trip down to make it a 6-point game with 45 seconds left. It's almost as if the Celtics should have spent more time going to the basket in the first half instead of jacking up threes.

Boston needed 35 points from Porzingis, 23 from White, and 31 from Tatum to beat the Pistons. It really shouldn't have been that difficult, but shots weren't falling early and the Pistons came much hungrier than the Celtics. 

At least the Celtics woke up at halftime and snapped out of their 3-point obsession, putting up just 15 points from downtown in the second half and overtime. And while Tatum had a woeful night from the floor, hitting just 11 of his 31 shots, he dished out a season-high 10 assists, grabbed seven rebounds, and swiped five steals. His shot was off (way off), but Tatum found a way to make an impact elsewhere.

The Celtics shouldn't have had to win ugly on Thursday night. They shouldn't have needed the team's biggest first-half comeback since 2021. 

But they did, and they did. In the end, they won, which is much better than the alternative. Being the team to end Detroit's historic slide is something that would be tough to shake.