NBA
Celtics Hand Detroit First Loss
On Saturday, October 27th the Detroit Pistons hosted the Boston Celtics for the front end of a home-and-home. The Celtics put their stamp on this game early as they cruised their way to a 109-89 win in Little Caesars Arena.
How The Game Was Won
Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris led the Celtics with 19 points, and 18 points and 8 rebounds, respectively. The scoring load was evenly distributed as five Celtics scored 14 or more points, while only one Celtic player went scoreless. The lack of scoring from Kyrie Irving and Al Horford went unnoticed as the Celtics as a whole brought this one home.
The Pistons scored a season-low 89 points. The Celtics have been limiting opponents to a field goal percentage of 41.5%. This was no different as Boston held the Pistons to a season-low 37% shooting percentage to hand them their first defeat. Detroit shot 18% from the field making only 7 three-pointers all game. This led to a relatively easy assignment for the Boston defense. They focused on collapsing on Blake Griffin with double-and triple-teams in order to force the ball out of his hands. They succeeded at that as Blake had 3 turnovers, one more than his season total prior to the game. Griffin also shot 2/13 from the field and 0/4 from three-point land.
The Glaring Weakness
Detroit kept hanging on throughout the whole game in order to decrease the deficit. At some point they did make a run to decrease it from 26 down to 15. The main issue throughout the game, however, was the Detroit defense. The Pistons could not get a defensive stop when needed and as a result Boston hit 14 three-pointers. Those threes came after every Detroit mini-run. This made the game challenging for the Pistons, who could not dig themselves out of the hole they were in.
Turbulence Can Be A Good Teacher
Five games into the regular season, the Pistons are having their first bump in the road. It is better to have that earlier in the season rather than later on closer to the playoffs. Detroit played arguably one of the best four teams in the NBA and did not give up all game regardless of what the final score might suggest. One of the main traits of a successful team is their reaction to adversity. This is an opportunity for Detroit to show leadership and learn from their mistakes. The Pistons have a chance to bounce back and get their revenge on Tuesday as they go to Boston to play the second half of this home-and-home series.
Photo credit to the Boston Celtics via Twitter
