Loss To Pistons Leaves Celtics Feeling Sour Heading Into All-Star Break
BOSTON (CBS) -- It was bound to happen. The Celtics weren't going to win every game the rest of the way. But losing to the Pistons -- winners of just a dozen games heading into Wednesday night's game at TD Garden -- before a week-long break was not the ideal way for the streak to come to an end.
The Celtics should have won Wednesday night even without Marcus Smart and Robert Williams participating in the contest. They should have won despite it being the second leg of a back-to-back, a much lesser follow-up to Tuesday's thrilling beatdown of the 76ers. And even with the team playing one of their worst games of 2022, the Celtics still held an eight-point lead with four minutes to go.
They should have won. The latest version of the Celtics found a way to win such games -- or they would have pummeled the opposition so much that the fourth quarter would have been rendered a formality.
But on Wednesday night, the Celtics reverted back to the team that suffered frustrating losses all too often in the first half of the season. There was way too much iso ball for large stretches, leading to a sloppy offensive first half. The defense faltered in the third quarter, surrendering 36 points to their lesser opponent. In the final frame, Jayson Tatum caught a case of the turnovers and the rest of the squad couldn't get a stop or make a timely basket.
It was bound to happen. But since they consistently raised their own ceiling over the last six weeks, we know the Celtics should have been much better on Wednesday night.
They had two shots at the end, but both of Boston's stars came up short. After a Jerami Grant jumper put Detroit up by one with 19.1 seconds left, Ime Udoka drew up an ATO play for Jaylen Brown. He drove to the hole and was met by Cade Cunningham, forcing Brown to put up a floater. That attempt was aggressively -- and easily -- sent sailing by Isaiah Stewart before it had a chance to think about going in.
The Celtics got another shot when Derrick White swiped Detroit's inbound pass a few seconds later, and the ball ended up in Tatum's hand just before the buzzer. The C's All-Star got a pretty good look from 18 feet out, but it clanged out.
Game over. Win streak over. The Celtics had built a lot of great cred over their nine-game streak, but now head into the All-Star break with a 112-111 loss to the lowly Pistons fresh on their minds.
"Bittersweet. Going to leave a sour taste, for sure," Udoka said. "Kind of look back and reflect on the things we did well over the streak, we didn't do it tonight. Defensively and even offensively, it wasn't as crisp as we've been. But the effort was there overall. I think their physicality bothered us. But I did tell them it was congrats on what we've done."
"It definitely leaves a bad taste in your mouth before the break. Definitely a game that you have to find a way to win," said Brown, who had a game-high 31 points for Boston. "Detroit though, give credit to them. They came ready to play."
The Pistons never went away, never relented throughout the game. They kept going directly at the Celtics, who looked like a team that was either still exhausted from the night before or was thinking about a flight to someplace warm after the game -- potentially both.
That happens, especially in the NBA. But after their rough start to the season, the Celtics don't have the luxury to schedule losses anymore, especially not to the Pistons.
Al Horford said that there will be an edge to the Celtics when they return, a continuation of what we saw during the team's nine-game win streak.
"We've been playing good basketball," he said. "Coming back, we understand that we have to hold that standard and continue to play at a high level. We have to continue to get better as a group."
"I'm just looking forward to that second half once we get going, because this is when the fun starts," added Horford.
Brown promised something similar. He's still a little chapped that he won't be going to his second straight All-Star game, but he'll use the break to rest his body and refocus his mind. He's eager to return with a more "aggressive mentality" for when the moments get bigger and bigger. Losses like Wednesday, while frustrating, will provide plenty of fuel for the rest of the way.
"I think when we get to those moments where everything is on the line, all our experiences that we have, being in tough, tight games, hopefully, when the biggest moments come, we'll be able to stand tall," Brown said confidently.
The win streak is over, and now the focus is on what awaits the Celtics the rest of the season.
"Nine is done," said Udoka. "It would've been nice to finish it off the right way, but we still got big things coming up."
