Tatum scores 43, Celtics beat Pistons for 6th straight win
DETROIT - Jayson Tatum scored 28 of his season-high 43 points in the first half as the Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons 117-108 on Saturday night for their sixth straight win.
Tatum also had 10 rebounds, and Marcus Smart added 18 points and 10 assists in Boston's second win against Detroit in four days. The Celtics won 128-112 at home on Wednesday.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 28 points to lead Detroit, and rookie Jalen Ivey added a season-high 26. Marcus Bagley III made his season debut after missing the first 13 games with a sprained knee and finished with four points and four rebounds in 17 minutes.
Both teams were missing one of their most important players. The Pistons' Cade Cunningham will be out for at least a week with shin soreness, while the Celtics' Jaylen Brown got the night off to deal with a knee contusion.
Bogdanovic had 15 points in the first half, including a pair of free throws with 0.1 seconds left in the second quarter that gave Detroit a 57-55 lead. The Pistons shot 47.4% (9-19) on 3-pointers in the half, but only 32% on 2-pointers.
Tatum had 15 points for Boston, who had a 20-12 edge in points in the paint, but only hit seven of 24 3-pointers in the opening half.
Tatum and Bogdanovic kept scoring after halftime. Bogdanovic finished with nine of Detroit's 24 points in the third quarter, but Tatum had 15 of Boston's 34. That put the Celtics up 89-81 going into the final 12 minutes.
TIP IN
Celtics: Luke Kornet picked up a technical foul in the third quarter for leaving the bench when it appeared Derrick White had been injured in a collision with Ivey. White remained on the floor for about a minute before being helped up by Ivey and Blake Griffin. Griffin was loudly booed whenever he touched the ball, as he has been since he was bought out by the Pistons in the 2020-21 season and signed with Brooklyn.
Pistons: Detroit wore their black jerseys with blue and red trim, as they often do at home, but Hamadou Diallo's last name was spelled "Daillo" on the back of his No. 6 jersey.
UP NEXT
Celtics: Host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.
Pistons: Host the Toronto Raptors on Monday.